Sloop (eBook)

When Daniel Robb set out to rebuild a family sailboat that had been deteriorating for years, he couldn't have anticipated what he was getting into. Although Robb was a skilled carpenter, boatbuilding (and boat repair) required a specialized set of skills. And this wasn't just any boat, it was a Herreshoff 12 1/2, a classic wooden sailboat. Built especially for the coastal waters of New England, this little sloop had sailed for years out of the author's boyhood home in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, before being relegated to a quiet corner of a yard, no longer the focus of the family's summer. Restoring the sailboat was both an act of respect and an homage to a place and a way of life that are in jeopardy of disappearing.

Sloop is the captivating story of Daniel Robb's education in boatbuilding, peopled by an eccentric cast of characters — lumbermen, boatbuilders, and local artisans — who are part of a changing and perhaps dying world. They tell Robb how to find the materials — certain kinds of wood, fastenings, caulking, and canvas — he'll need, which are increasingly hard to come by, and they educate him in the techniques of restoration, an all-but-lost art. Building and restoring wooden boats means an initiation into a world where life is lived simply, with respect for materials, for labor, and for the local waters.

A craftsman and environmentalist, Robb is a willing and able student, and although the restoration of the boat takes far more time and effort than he'd calculated, it is ultimately successful. After all Robb's struggles with quartersawn white oak, homemade steam boxes, bronze screws, copper rivets, andold mast hoops, the Herreshoff sails again — and a dying art and a vanishing way of life remain alive and vibrant just a while longer.

By turns charming, meditative, and wonderfully quirky, Sloop is a paean to a sense of place and to old-fashioned values.

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Now in paperback, Daniel Robbs Sloop proves he is a craftsman with words as well as with a hammer, as he constructs a charming tale that both details the technical nature of boatbuilding and captures the essence of the past, present, and future of a New England maritime community (Publishers Weekly). Interest in the environment and ecology: Daniel robb decided to restore his familys well-worn wooden sailboat in appreciation for its craftsmanship and out of respect for the environment for which it was intended. Sloops tribute to the simple life and ones environment will resonate with sailing enthusiasts and anyone who appreciates fine craftsmanship. Timeless values: robb voices an ethic in which things are valued and appreciated, especially well-designed objects that still have years of useful life in them. While die-hard sailors or woodworking fanatics will love this book, robbs skill as a writer also makes this a fascinating read for anyone. His humorous account of his on-the-job learning experience and of the eccentric characters who share his values and helped him will delight readers. Robb writes of his painstaking restoration of a rotted 12- foot herreshoff that had floated on memory and emotion, and finally again on water.a gem. David Mehegan, The Boston Globe Whether youre an old-time boat builder, a wooden boat enthusiast, or simply someone who appreciates words woven together masterfully, youll enjoy Sloop. Kathleen Szmit, Barnstable Patriot Author of Crossing the Water, Daniel Robb has been an editor of academic journals, a teacher, a political consultant on a congressional campaign, and a proprietor of a literary services business. He has also worked at sea on schooners, taught sailing, and raced in national competitions. Robb lives in Pelham, Massachusetts.