Time to Focus

I have decided to attend the COOTS' Messabout in mid-September at Timothy Lake in Oregon. COOTS is a loosely organized club of small boat builders and sailors in Oregon. A messabout is a gathering of folks for a weekend of camping, boating (most attendees have small, generally homemade boats), and camaraderie. I was thinking of going for the camping but when I learned last weekend that Michael Storer, the Australian designer of the Goat Island Skiff, is planning to attend the event, I decided I am definitely going!

One of the COOTS asked me, only half-seriously, if I planned to bring my Goat to the messabout. My initial reaction was, "No. There is no way I can have it completed by mid-September." But over the course of several days of thinking and several late nights reviewing the plans, I decided I could possibly complete the boat to a rowing configuration in time. It wouldn't have the mast, yards, sail or rigging, but it could be launched and rowed! After another day of thinking about it, I decided to focus on the boat and do what it takes to complete the boat in time for the Timothy Lake Messabout the weekend of September 18-20, 2009.