wooden boat

I am in awe of the bi-monthly publication Wooden Boat. As I've mentioned before, it is one of the only American publications that makes a significant and consistent statement of the value of hands-on learning. This month's issue makes a point of highlighting programs that put kids into the process of boat building, and it is truly learned best, that which is learned hands-on. The wooden boat building community knows that and tells it like it is, though not, perhaps in language as direct as my own.

What we learn hands-on is learned to greatest lasting effect, and so is therefore much more efficacious than that idle classroom learning.

One article this month describes the work of boat builder/designer Louis Sauzedde. Sauzedde is well known among boat builders for is innovative tools and processes including a worm-drive saw with a control to bevel blanks to varying degrees as they are cut, and without the traditional ship-wright's tilting band saw. Sauzedde, in the article is described as being both left and right brained at the same time and his work shows it. He also speaks clearly when it comes to what we do wrong by overly sheltering our kids. "I can understand wanting to protect your children, but today they're sheltered from work. Without work, you can't learn."

And yes, we learn best by doing real things. to make something useful and beautiful is the best of all learning experiences and the necessary foundation of greater things. What could be more beautiful and useful than a wooden boat? The image above is the Hestøy in Oslo, a Colin Archer design built in 1951.

Make, fix and create...