Q & A: Walking the Plank

As captain of Aphrodite, a 74-foot Purdy commuter yacht that ties up every summer in Rhode Island’s Watch Hill Harbor, Kirk Reynolds is responsible for one of the most beautifully restored boats in the Northeast.

Sam Temple started working at Rockport Marine in  Rockport, Maine, when he was 11 years old. Today he co-owns and runs the place.

Jim Moores has restored more than 100 antique and classic boats over the past 35 years, including the 1930 93-foot Defoe-designed Presidential yacht Honey Fitz.

Jamie White  has sailed over 30,000 miles on square-rigged and traditional vessels and served as chief rigger for some of the world's greatest tall ships.

Some people feel born and bred to do a job, but for Cindy Purcell hers is also a labor of love.

It’s said that in the 1880s, seven of the 10 boatbuilders on Man-O-War Cay in the Bahamas had the last name Albury.

On any given day, you’re likely to find Chesapeake Bay photographer Jay Fleming mucking through a mosquito-ridden marsh, kayaking around a fleet of workboats or diving head-first into a net full of fish.

Ralph Johnson developed a taste for the sea more than 60 years ago, but his “moment of clarity” came in 1980 when he decided to take a couple of years off from a banking career to learn boatbuilding from his father-in-law, Pert Lowell.

Elizabeth (Tiedemann) duPont got her first taste of the sea while in her early 20s off Newport, Rhode Island, watching the final race of the 1983 America’s Cup from an 85-foot spectator boat.

Lucky John England. The former master shipwright at Rockport Marine, in Rockport, Maine, England has probably never worked on an ugly boat.

If you’ve ever met Billy Black, you know he loves his work. A welcome presence at boat shows and industry events, Black is seldom seen without a beaming smile on his face.

Michael Gorman grew up on Lake Ontario in Oswego, New York, and got his first taste of boating at a summer sailing camp that his parents had to persuade him to attend.

Paul Buttrose was born in Adelaide, Australia, and spent the first decade of his working life as a traveling salesman in the garment industry before fighting in Vietnam.

Mike Muessel grew up on Lake Superior in Duluth, Minnesota, the son of a career Coast Guard warrant officer. His family owned a 26- foot wooden launch and a 25-foot wooden sailboat that received heavy use.

Cabot Lyman moved to Thomaston, Maine, from Vermont in 1978 with a plan to become a boatbuilder. Lyman was  looking for space to rent, Morse Boatbuilding was struggling, and it wasn’t long before the two joined forces as  Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding.

If you’re anything like us, the many watercraft of Mystic Seaport are your favorite things about this wonderful place in Mystic, Connecticut. For almost 40 years, one man has worked behind the scenes at Mystic, watching over the fleet.

Jess Wurzbacher holds a master’s degree in tropical coastal management from Newcastle University (U.K.) and a 200-ton Master license.

Capt. Sandy Yawn will soon be a familiar face to fans of Bravo’s reality TV show Below Deck Mediterranean, when she becomes the first female captain on the series this season.