Saturdays used to be pretty quiet at the Spaulding Center.  But these days, Saturdays at the Center are buzzing with activity.

This past Saturday, the Arques School of Traditional Boat Building was holding their usual amateur’s class of 10+ students who are building a boat.  I arrived at noon to greet a small group from the Traditional Small Craft Association (TSCA), who were arriving back at our dock from a row-out and back.  Two TSCA’s were rowing Guppy, the twelve-foot Norwegian Pram built by our 2008 Youth Boat Building and Sailing Progam (foreground below).

A dock on Sausalito Canal

Accompanying me was Kevin, a new volunteer docent who then helped me conduct an SWBC tour for the TSCA.  But Kevin had to leave early because he was joining a crew of six volunteers who were taking our 1962 Spaulding 33, Pegasus, at 1 pm to the Richmond Yacht Club for the Master Mariner’s Annual Potluck.

Finally, at 1 pm, kids and parents started arriving for Day One of our Youth Boat Building and Sailing Program – Year 2.  Program Director Craig Southard and his four volunteer instructors welcomed nine young people and two Big Brothers this week.  We are still accepting applications and hope for more to join in coming weeks.  After a few Saturdays of basic woodworking, the kids will start building another pram.

All this activity makes the “living” museum alive.  It was a beautiful day!

By the way, the TSCA crew posted their day on the Wooden Boat Forum.  See: http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=94552.

Robert Darr and his students at the Arques School of Traditional Boatbuilding (now part of the Spaulding Wooden Boat Center), carefully select wood of the right shape for its intended use. Here, black locust tree limbs were selected with just the needed curve for boat frames.

Black locust wood is extremely hard, resistant to rot and long lasting, making it prized for building small watercraft.