Man's Best Friend

I was still up at 2am faffing and revising for Monday's test so I didn't get much sleep and I awoke with a jolt knowing that I was late. 8:01am- not good. That gave me enough time to stuff some toast and jam in my mouth, grab Anneka and head out the door whilst fending of my landlords cats who want to reclaim my cabin as theirs. Not likely Kitty's!

I had 9 minutes before Mike would be handing out the test papers so I didn't hang around and with the taste of jam on my lips and crumbs around my mouth I descended into Uplyme in a fashion usually seen on Ski Sunday but sadly with a distinct lack of catchy title music. As the local school kids stepped out onto the road without noticing a panting boatbuilder bearing down on them I noticed a cyclist up ahead and decided to chase him down. Poor chap- he was on a full tri- bike with tri bars, deep section rims and the full lycra kit and he got passed by yours truly, smelling of breakfast and wearing an eclectic mix of paint splattered clothing. The fact I was on a 16 year old mountain bike was the final straw so he gave chase but I was on a roll- literally as I crested the rise and headed down into Lyme Regis leaving him in my wake. The last hill is about as steep as you would want to ride a bike down and I hit about 45mph before bottoming out next to the harbour to find my mate Chris wandering in so I slowed, knowing that I was no longer last to arrive.

The test went ok and I scored 78%, better tan last weeks 50% but none of the stuff I had revised came up! Typical. Our first break was around 10:30am and I wondered into the kitchen to be met by the housekeeper, Wendy. I wasn't keeping up my end of the bargain as out usual up beat banter was absent. Apparently I looked a bit pensive and when Wendy asked if I was a worrier, I agreed I was. You see, most of the guys on the course have come with clear ideas about what boats to build and what directions their careers will take after the course has finished. I was not one of those- it was all about the carpentry for me which I see as a very transferable skill. Wendy had seen all of this before and after a quick chat I was feeling mildly better. My mood improved after reading an article about a man who sailed a 5ft long boat across the Atlantic taking 139 days. Now he had some things to worry about so I cheered up after that.

By lunch I was flagging. I didn't bring enough food, I was aching after running yesterday and I wasn't producing the goods at the work bench so I sat in the sun next to a dog belonging to one of the instructors. I realised we had quite similar hair do's and we both craved attention, so dog therapy began. After 10 mins of patting, tummy rubbing and a few friendly licks I was feeling better. Its the simple things in life that mean the most. By the way, the dog did the licking, not me!

My New Home

You may have read that the long term accommodation I had arranged fell through the day I arrived in Lyme Regis and so I had to seek some temporary digs whilst I renewed my search for a place I would feel comfortable for the next 9 months.

Gemma, Kaylee and Eyvonne from the B.B.A. set about making lots of phone calls to try and find me somewhere and an advert was put up on the Lyme Regis Sailing Club website. The calls started to come in and Steve & Sue Jones in Uplyme suggested I come to see the property they were thinking of renting
After finishing my first week at the B.B.A I set out on Anneka up the steep hills leading to the village of Uplyme which nestles next to Lyme Regis. Steve & Sue live on top of a hill fed by a winding driveway and next to their house is a cabin which started out life as stables. They had converted it to live in whilst they built their own house next door and I immediately liked the place. Its basic but warm, dry and comfortable so we agreed a price and I have just spent my first night here. I will be adding a few more things to make it feel more like my home when I get the chance.









The cycle to the B.B.A take ten minutes (although the cycle back takes about double that) and despite that I have been late four times in the last week which is not like me. Hopefully now that I am settled and my bags are un-packed (the first time since before I went cycling in N. America) I will be more organised.

Week Two: Dove Tail Joints & confidence

With the first week having already flown by week two kicked off with a test, which I was late for! I quickly jotted down what I thought were the answers and then saw one of my peers work through my paper with a red pen. Being a teacher, its been a while since I was on the receiving end and was not impressed to have scored 50%! A lot of work to be done Rob!

Our group of 18 were walking about the workshop with an air of confidence as our knowledge continued to grow on a daily basis. A constant stream of wood shavings feel to the floor from our planes and bench clamps wound open and shut as we secured our pieces in more convenient angles to work with our chisels. The chisels need to be 'honed' after a certain amount of work to ensure they continue to pare of wafer thin shavings of wood.



A chisel will not be sharp unless its back is completely flat. Once that is achieved then a cutting edge can be added.


For every piece we produce we have to identify the 'Face' and 'Edge' on the piece of wood which we deem to to be the flattest and squarest in relation to each other. If there are any imperfections they are made flat and square with the use of a No 4 smoothing plane, an engineers square and lots of squinting. Once this is done the dove tail joints can be carefully marked out and cut using a Tenon saw before being fine tuned with chisels. When mastered, dove tails can be cut accurately enough with just a saw requiring no work with chisels but it will take a few more attempts to get to that level.

Working with hand tools allows us to get accustomed to how the wood behaves so we can feel what is happening at the end of a chisel or plane. This feeling can be lost if you use tools an electric router to tear through the fibres of a piece of pine regardless of the run of the grain or obstacles in the wood such as knots.








To avoid any silly mistakes and covering my work in blood I keep all digits behind the cutting edge.



















There is something hugely satisfying when the blade you have honed sits is a tool you have learned to set up that then peels off deep yellow shavings that curl around your hands as you push it away from you. I can't wait to learn more of these empowering skills.

Week One: My walk to work and the beach outside the Boat Building Academy

Week One: What am I doing in Lyme Regis?

To cut a long story short, I am training to be a traditional wooden boat builder at The Boat Building Academy (http://www.boatbuildingacademy.com/) in Lyme Regis.

How did I come to be on this course. . .? Whilst crossing North America on my bike (www.daylightrob.blogspot.com) I had the time to consider what to do with my life and I kept coming back to the idea of a more active, hands on and practical job. I had completed a City & Guild in Carpentry & Joinery so it seemed logical to build on these skills because I enjoy working with wood. An afternoon trolling the internet resulted in finding The Boat Building Academy and after paying them a visit in January this year I was sold on the idea. I am now one week into the 38 week 'Long Course' http://www.boatbuildingacademy.com/courses/longcourse.htm.

"The City & Guilds of London Institute Course 2451 Boat Building, Maintenance and Support at Level 3 is our flagship course, designed to enable students to gain jobs in the marine industry or establish themselves as boat builders in their own right."

From day one we were bombarded with information, terminology, new names and challenging tasks and the time has flown by. We were each given a tool box with the basic tools we need to get us through the first few weeks. The chisels and plane blades needed a fair amount of attention so the first day was spent practicing grinding and honing our sharp edges. We do this every day and it becomes faster and easier every time. Its so important to have sharp cutting edges otherwise the quality and speed of the work suffers.

All the work we do is by hand- there are no motorised tools used so its empowering to achieve exact results with hand tools alone.

















The joint you see in the shape of a lightening strike is a Hooked Scarf and this particular piece will be used to form part of a clinker section we build as an assessment to be graded by the instructors. It took a solid day to prepare a piece of wood, cut it into two and then cut, chisel and plane each piece to achieve this tight fitting joint. After taking it out of the clamps, removing the excess glue and smoothing things out I felt a real sense of achievement to see the two pieces of wood were divided by a barely visible line.

Arriving in Lyme Regis

Having shaken off a slightly cloudy head with the help of a lovely full English breakfast I finished packing my bags and said goodbye to my Mum before Katrina arrived in her car (Brum), to take me down to Dorset.

The journey was fairly straight forward and as the urban sprawl was gradually replaced by green fields and trees sporting the first signs of blossom I became genuinely excited about my new adventure.

Arriving in Lyme Regis we eventually found the house in which I would be staying for the next 6 months or so. I had spoken to my new landlord on the phone a number of times since the New Year but I never thought to ask one important question. . . "Do you smoke?". I also forgot to ask if my landlord drank or if they needed medication for their bi-polar/ paranoid schizophrenia. The answer to these questions was unfortunately "YES". We stayed for all of half an hour by which time it was clear this was not going to work out so we made our excuses, left and began forming an action plan over a pint in the local beach side pub. We had a look at the Boat Building Academy and a little walk on the beach outside. we even dipped our feet into the frigid water to mark our arrival on the coast

It was late and I wasn't going to find anywhere at this time so Katrina and I headed to her fathers (Ian) home just outside Exeter and we were met with a smile, a hot seafood meal and a glass of wine- just what the doctor ordered.

The next day after a cycle ride with Ian and a couple of pints in the local we settled down to watch a fairly dismal match of rugby and then drove back to Lyme Regis to a B&B I had organised earlier in the day. This would be my stop gap until I found somewhere more permanent so at least I could start the course on time.

We had one more walk on the beach and a pint in The Standard before I waved Katrina off as she headed back to London and I headed back inside to get to know my fellow trainee boat builders who were ordering pints and food at the bar which would become our local for the duration of the course.

Farewell Drinks in Putney

Friday 11th March

Once again I found myself leaving London to embark on another adventure but this time I would be staying in England and moving down to Lyme Regis in Dorset to train to be a traditional wooden boat builder. A few friends joined Katrina and I in Putney for a drink or five and lots of laughs.