Open Boat Camp Cruising
with Geoff Kerr, hosted by Steve Stone
This presentation is now available as a replay
Leave your questions and comments below!
Steve and Geoff will continue answering questions there.
Description:
Geoff Kerr teaches an Open Boat Camp Cruising course at the WoodenBoat School, and he’s among the most experienced camp-cruisers in this part of the world. Geoff will walk us through the most important topics, answering the top questions of those who are keen to explore far-off places in small boats. Off Center Harbor co-founder Steve Stone has camp-cruised the entire coast of Maine and will host Geoff and lead the Q&A that follows Geoff’s presentation.
Live Q&A to follow.
Speakers:
Geoff Kerr – Teacher, Camp Cruiser
Although I grew up in a boatless North Carolina family, I was graciously innoculated by a family friend with a motor cruiser and an infinite stack of back issues of all the magazines. As a 16 year old casting about for a summer adventure I responded to a magazine ad for the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School. That cold and foggy June in Penobscot Bay introduced me to a lifetime love of sailing and open boat adventuring. College back in North Carolina gave me lots of opportunity for marine science studies and for sailing other people’s boats. An ad in the campus newspaper lead me to a commission as a U.S. Coast Guard officer and 3 years at sea aboard a 180‘ research vessel with pre-GPS cruises ranging from the Grand Banks to Columbia. Our homeport was just down the road from Mystic Seaport which afforded me weekend musing time and an introductory course in wooden boat building. Those years and the next decade or so were once again spent in other people’s boats. Time, money and growing children finally aligned in the early ‘90’s, and armed with Celtic/Norman DNA, a stack of WoodenBoat magazines and a wealth of optimism I built my first boat, a Caledonia Yawl. That experience lead to a now 30 year career as a boatbuilder (5 years with Joe Youcha and the Alexandria Seaport Foundation, and 25 years on my own as Two Daughters Boatworks). I’ve also spent those 30 years sailing and adventuring in “Ned Ludd”, my original Caledonia, wearing out two trailers, 4 tow vehicles and two suits of sails. Over those years I’ve built over 30 of Iain Oughtred’s designs and some 40 other adventure cruising boats ranging from Chesapeake Light Craft prototypes, Francois Vivier pocket cruisers, Graham Byrnes speedsters, a one-off Gartside motor cruiser and a pair of Doug Hylan outboard garveys. To get me out of my cave in the hills I’ve been very fortunate enjoy teaching at The Wooden Boat School for the last 20+ years. That summer gig has afforded me an annual opportunity to cruise and camp the coast of Maine, and to develop the curriculum for the Open Boat Cruising course we’ve been offering at WBS for the last five or so seasons. That summer time in Brooklin also introduced me to the OCH crew and lead to our past collaborations. These 50 years of sailing, thirty years sporting about in Ned Ludd, and the twenty teaching boatbuilding, sailing and adventuring in Maine have contributed to the thoughts and principles I’ll offer in our Worldwide Classic Boat Show presentation.
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