In the beginning...
I first noticed Michael Storer's Goat Island Design in July of 2007 when I started looking for plans for a boat I might build for my wife and I to take fishing. I wasn't looking for a sailboat, but a friend suggested that if I was going to build a boat, why not build one that could be sailed as well as rowed or motored. Why not, indeed.
The Goat Island Skiff caught my eye - it is just a flat out beautiful boat. I wasn't convinced I could build it, but I did contact Michael, asked a few questions, and got a copy of the Bill of Materials. Still not convinced I could do it, I put off the decision to buy the plans and get started.
Summer slipped into fall, and then winter settled in, and although I looked at the plans on-line, I still didn't buy the plans or take any other steps toward starting our boat. A couple of health issues and a bit of surgery in February kept me occupied as winter faded into spring. And then, just at the beginning of summer the worst thing imaginable happened: my wife passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly. During that first week following her death I decided to build a Goat Island Skiff as my memorial to my Karen, to celebrate her life, and our life together. It's a shame that decision came too late for me to share it with her in the here and now.
In July of 2008 I found the Michael Storer Wooden Boat Plans forum on the Wooden Boat Forum, where I was welcomed by everyone. It has been a very good resource, a primer of sorts, with answers to questions, issues, and problems I didn't even know existed.
It wasn't until late October that I bought the plans for my Goat Island Skiff, but I have been reading and reviewing them ever since downloading them from DuckWorks. I had to move from the house Karen and I were renting but because I am now trying to buy a house of my own I am staying with friends. This means I do not have a space large enough to build my GIS, but I expect to begin working on the foils very soon.
Here is the Goat Island Skiff, designed by Michael Storer.
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