under a green tarp...

The final voyage of STAVANGER from WoodenBoat on Vimeo.

High on my list for visiting in Norway was the RS 14 Stavanger, a Norwegian rescue boat featured in Wooden Boat Magazine in 2009.  I was sad to learn that she was not in the best of shape.  Funds to build a boat hall at the National Maritime Museum for the preservation of Stavanger have not materialized and she was standing on the shore under a green tarp. It was not at all what I had hoped for.  I would have preferred to find her still in the water or undergoing restoration.

The RS 14 Stavanger was one of several redningskøyte designed  and built by Colin Archer.

When boats like Stavanger are finally retired, some human knowledge is retired as well, as boats are not just repositories of material culture, but of human skill, character, intelligence and emotion. I wish the Stavanger well and hope to visit her again under more auspicious circumstances.

Today I am recovering from jet-lag and hope to get into the shop for a short time as my attention allows. I have a large order for boxes to fill and a deadline, so a rapid recovery from jet lag is required.

Tonight we have a meeting in town arranged by a state senator and representative to discuss the SWEPCO power line project. I plan to deliver information on the shortcomings of the regulatory agency's review of the project. We should never have been subjected to such malfeasance, and with a properly functioning regulatory agency, we would not have.

Make, fix and create...