My name is John. I was born in northern California and raised mostly in the San Diego area. I spent 8-years serving in the U.S. Air Force, then about 10-years as a Field Engineer in the semiconductor industry working for 2 different Swiss companies back to back. I have traveled all over this country and world and now I work for the airlines as a Planner (more travel - yay). I now have lived in the Phoenix Metro Valley since 1995 and love it here.
My boatbuilding journey actually began when I was kid when I had a subscription to Popular Mechanics and I took woodshop all through Jr High and High School. I never could afford to build medium- or large-sized projects, so I resolved to build small ones. In one of those subscriptions, there was a project for a small sailing dingy called “Sea Scout”. It took me 30 years before I’d actually attempt that project. Unfortunately, like with some projects, and a series of unfortunate events, it never got finished. The good part of that project was I did learn a few things about boatbuilding which gave me more confidence when I decided to start another, bigger, one.
During the summer of 2012, I researched many wooden boat building projects before ultimately deciding on the PocketShip. I almost decided on the Stevenson Vacationer. Which is also a small, 19-foot, gaff-rigged, pocket cruiser. I liked it because it can be built to look like a pirate ship (I like pirate stuff). I later discovered, because of its flat bottomed hull, it was limited to closed waters. Then I discovered the Cape Henry. It is a beautiful, classic, design but a little too big to build in one side of a garage, too heavy to pull with my little 3-series BMWer, and little expensive to build overall.
