New mast for a skipjack
Not all skipjacks are out of commission. We spied Captain Ed Farley at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum on Sunday afternoon, cutting the edges off of a VERY large timber – more than 60 ft long.
Whoa.
Ever wonder how they make those wooden masts? Well, here’s your answer – very slowly, by hand, trimming the edges (I know there’s a proper term for this) until the long post is cylindrical. And I’d guess you’d want to be pretty careful. Can you imagine what a timber like that must cost? Talk about measuring twice…..and cutting once.
And here’s the Skipjack HM Krentz, an authentic working skipjack, soon to have a new mast. And a link to the website - when you come to St. Michaels for a visit, you can take a sailing tour of a true working skipjack, and experience a piece of our maritime and oystering history.
