Second edition of a wooden boat builder meet in Japan

The number of amateur wooden boat builders in Japan has been gradually increasing over the last several years. In May, the "Wooden Boat Builders Meeting" was launched and had it's first meeting at Miura-kaigan in Kanagawa. The meeting aims to promote a friendly network of amateur boat builders and to become an useful forum for information exchange. The idea came about spontaneously from the members of the internet bulletin board which is moderated by Atsushi Doi. Atsushi had written several boatbuilding articles for amateurs on Kaji magazine. His homepage, dedicated to glued lapstrake boatbuilding, is well known to Japanese amateurs. He is also an inventor of new-generation Ro (Japanese sculling oar). The meeting is the very first of this kind in Japan. 50 enthusiasts gathered together with sailing canoes, dinghies, rowboats, Ro-powereded proa... 20 self-made wooden boats were brought to the beach. With a good breeze, and calm weather, the meeting was a great success. And, immediately, the next meeting was planned.

The second meeting was held at the Wooden Boat Center in the Lake Biwako on September 29th and 30th. Fifteen boats lined up on the Kozuhama, which is a nearby beach to the center. Dinghies, canoes and sailing canoes were the majority. The bleeze was perfect and we enjoyed pleasant sailing. When it became dark, all the enthusists gathered in the center building. Before dinner, Suzuki Takumi, who is a staff member of the wooden boat centre, showed slides of his recent quest in New England. The party started, all the members began eating, drinking and chatting about their boats almost all night. The 30th was a rainy day, but several boats still set out sailing/paddling on the lake. People slowly left one by one as many of them had driven quite a long distance. The gathering closed and we decided to have a third meeting before next spring.

Photos by Doi Atsushi, Suzuki Takumi and Koji Matano

http://woodenboat.jp/index-e.html