One writer's restorative journey — of self and vessel.
By Blair Kloman, M.A. English '94
As adept with his words as he is with the tools of restoration, Daniel Robb ’87 writes his second book, Sloop: Restoring My Family’s Wooden Sailboat—An Adventure in Old-Fashioned Values (Simon & Schuster, 2008), as if he were chatting amiably with a friend over tea. In his debut, Crossing the Water (2001), Robb chronicled his 18-month stint as a teacher of delinquent boys at the Penikese Island School, in Buzzard’s Bay. Sloop finds Robb still living in the same mainland area of Woods Hole, Massachusetts, in a small and spare cabin down a bumpy drive. Making do with odd carpentry jobs around town, he catches himself yearning for another story to tell and is lucky enough to find one lurking beneath a moldy tarp in a cousin’s driveway.
Part family memoir, part local lore—with a healthy dose of thoughtful introspection—Robb tells a candid tale of restoring and rebuilding what is both a family relic and an icon of historical craftsmanship. The main character, Daphie , is a 68-year-old, 15-foot sloop built by the revered Nathanael Greene Herreshoff. Merely whisper the name Herreshoff and you’ve got the attention of any sailor worth his or her salt.
Born in Bristol, Rhode Island, Herreshoff was a naval architect-engineer who revolutionized yacht design. Consequently Herreshoff Manufacturing Company went on to build what became an ardent succession of undefeated America’s Cup sailboats from 1893 to 1934. The family has carried on the tradition and art of swift-sailing beauties to this day. Daphie is a classic representation of the Herreshoff legacy of small wooden boats built especially for the coastal waters of New England.
The historical elements of Sloop are central to the story. They unfold for the reader through a series of encounters that Robb has with local builders and craftsmen who give him endless advice and are always willing to lend a hand. Whether he needs a defunct bronze fastener—or a replica of one—or an explanation for a woodworking technique long outdated, the lives and stories of these old salts begin to parallel the poignant blending of old and new, tradition and innovation, that is at the heart of Robb’s tale. In a society so rampant with progress and efficiency these days, Robb presents a world where the diligent restoration of an old wooden boat reflects a life lived simply, with dogged appreciation of each and every part.
Named quaintly from the combined initials of the children in Robb’s mother’s family, Daphie was adored each summer by generations of young sailors. Yet once uncovered, she reveals to Robb the many years of neglect that come from being held a musty captive beneath an old tarp. Robb is moved to tackle the task of rebuilding the once-loved sloop, and thus begins his story. He literally pulls back the cover on a dusty life and presents to the reader a methodically constructed narrative that reveals both the technical aspects and spiritual tradition of boatbuilding. And in doing so he captures—and intertwines—the past, present, and future of a New England coastal town.
Both lighthearted at times and tempered with moments of subtle wisdom, Sloop follows Robb’s adventure from what begins as a niggling challenge and becomes, over time, a deeply rewarding accomplishment. In his own thoughtful style, he tells a sweet tale of love and loss and resurrection with the gentleness of one who has fully lived the journey.
Eventually the old Herreshoff sails again, and Robb quietly celebrates with a tour of his native waters and local haunts. He ends his story with a late fall overnight sail to Penikese Island, 14 miles up Buzzard’s Bay, the centerpiece and landscape of his first book. In a way, he’s ended up where we last left off with him. It’s as good a reminder as any—whether intentional or not—that life may seem like a string of stories but is in fact one long tale.
The world that teens inhabit in Initiation (Flux, 2009), a young adult novel by Susan Fine, MA English ’93, is searing, intense, and secretive—almost a separate galaxy spinning in its own space and time. Fine knows well the adolescent universe her 14-year-old characters struggle in, having taught English for 16 years in New York, Los Angeles, and Boston. She gives her young adult readers an absorbing look at one young man’s journey through the teen microcosm, as he strives to figure out who he is and how he fits into his adopted community, St. Stephen’s School for Boys.
The story begins when Mauricio Londoño, a new graduate of St. Stephen’s, goes back to the school to look at his name on an award plaque. When he sees the school has, once again, spelled his name without the tilde over the N, he plunges into a full reflection of ninth grade, his first year at the private prep school.
As Mauricio explains, most of the boys at St. Stephen’s had been students there since kindergarten, and they navigated the school with utter familiarity. But he was an outsider and outside his comfort zone from the beginning. Everything—the jacket-and-tie dress code, classes conducted around tables instead of at desks, the difficult level of work, and the wealth and sense of privilege his classmates exuded—was foreign to him.
Latino and middle class, Mauricio longed to fit in. He had chosen the private school because he wanted to become the “St. Stephen’s gentleman” promised in its literature, but he had to learn to navigate a culture that he both admired and anguished over. “I had no idea what would come of packing all those boys into one school building,” he recalls. “I could not imagine how the competition would play out in relentless insults, the constant sorting that went on every day, all day, to determine who was okay and who was worthless.” To be “okay” took some doing. Some succeeded; others, like Mauricio, lingered in various states of turmoil.
From his 18-year-old vantage point, Mauricio reflects on the ninth graders’ relentless pursuit of status, partly determined by being accepted by the right people and partly by participating in risky, seemingly adult, behavior—getting high, drinking, being a “friend with privileges,” engaging in explicit banter. At the time, the kids seem to think they are making smart choices; yet, when Mauricio’s classmates take a personal feud into cyberspace, events spiral out of control. The anonymous, online bullying and nasty cyber pranks result in Mauricio being falsely tagged as the culprit. Had Mauricio not gone to his parents for help, these events could have had horrific consequences for everyone.
Initiation is reassuring to the young reader because the boys learn important life lessons without having to experience a devastating tragedy first. And the adult intervention that Mauricio initiated offers a teaching moment; it underscores the oft-repeated message that kids can confide in trusted adults, and that adults can help.
Fine has crafted an engaging, pulsating story, electrically charged with teen angst. Young readers will identify with the painful introspection and self-doubt that accompany Mauricio’s experiences and will be encouraged as he finds his full voice in the end.
—Regan Eberhart