Last Tuesday was my birthday — 25 on the 25th, how cool is that?? — and it was the best kind of day…
The pumpkin patch was followed by some shopping (that’s right, I’ve got a partner who will go shopping with me… how awesome is that??) and driving down to New Hampshire.
Why New Hampshire, you ask?
Because as if diners and pumpkin patches and shopping weren’t enough, the coolest thing happened on my birthday: We met Chuck Burns, the designer of our boat!
It turns out that Chuck lives only a couple of hours south of Jon, so when the opportunity came up to meet for coffee, we could not resist! Chuck has designed a number of beautiful boats — none more so than the Nor’West, of course — and we were so excited to get a chance to ‘pick his brain’ a little.
Amidst questions of rudder construction and hull lay-up, we also devoured the photographs and articles that Chuck had so thoughtfully brought along with him.
After hours of coffee and questions, we walked away feeling like not only did we end up with one the most thoughtfully and beautifully designed boats, but that we are so so SO thankful to have met Chuck Burns, and to have him as a resource for future projects.
The man is a wealth of knowledge, and we can not thank him enough for meeting with us and, of course, for designing the Nor’West 33.
(Oh, and to end the birthday celebration story… our coffee in New Hampshire was wrapped up with a waterfront dinner in Portland, ME, where we devoured some of the best lobster-corn-bisque I’ve ever tasted… as evidenced by my shirt hehehe)
…It should be an exciting new year!
Hi Leah and Jon,
the Coffee hour we shared was a special time for me…you buth are awesome and I wish you much luck in your adventures and congratulations on your upcoming wedding and life together.
Smooth seas and fair winds,
Chuck
both***…hahaha engineers didn’t learn how to type in my generation…
Happy Birthday! and nice to to meet you via the internet. You guys seem to have worked out a great lifestyle. It’s something we’ve often talked about, taking a significant part of each year off to sail, but we’re still working on exactly how to make it happen.
Happy travels!
This is fascinating! I had Puffin out last week in SF Bay and it was very windy. I’m so impressed by her motion and speed…very different from my previous fin keel boat. I was also surprised how well the little Yanmar pushed the boat….though I had to take out the thermostat because it got corroded in the closed position due to lack of use. I noticed on the early boats that the shrouds were placed inboard on the cabin sides. By Hull #11 the shrouds are placed outboard and there is a strong stainless(?) knee that attaches to the chain plate in the lockers. I wonder why they made this modification?
Hey Leah! We’re in Fiji waiting for weather windows to New Cal and on to Brisbane. Hope you’re surviving your wedding planning, sounds like you’re finding the precious moments. Our planning has been on the backburner since we left Hawaii in May and will be my focus once we reach Australia… So funny, I just realized that Chuck Burns is one of our blog followers, and literally figured out he was THE Chuck Burns that designed our boat right before I checked your blog and read that you just had coffee with him. Awesome. Might you have his contact info? By the way, that spinnaker picture is our boat- Hull #10. Fantastic story. xoxo, Shawn and Chris s/v TAO