The 62nd annual Boothbay Harbor Windjammer Days will take place on Sunday, June 23 through Saturday, June 29. This year we will celebrate our local boatbuilders and shipwrights. Please visit boothbayharborwindjammerdays.org for the full schedule of events.

Ross’s interest in boats began as a youth while working summers at a sailing camp. His duties included some light cabin maintenance and getting the fleet of Rhodes 19s ready for the upcoming season. He was always on the water in the summer and had small boats of his own.

He began to cultivate a desire to learn boatbuilding and in 1999 was referred to David Nutt by Tony Finocchiarro for more experience at his Southport shop. At the time, David Nutt was getting his boat Danza ready for an upcoming voyage where he and his family that would circumnavigate the globe. Ross was tasked with grinding off years worth of buildup on the aluminum hull. It took many long hours to remove the residue in one inch strips with a diamond grinder. David became an important early mentor for Ross and showed a great interest in Ross’s growth by setting up a training program to learn things like caulking and other basic techniques. Ross worked with David for a year and even accompanied David and his family on the early legs of the trans world expedition.

After that he worked for a year with Doug Goldhirsch who had purchased David Nutt’s boatyard. Then desiring more formal training, attended the Apprenticeshop in Rockland for two years and graduated in 2002.

Over the 25 years that Ross has been in the boat building arena he has learned from many influential masters and colleagues. He worked with Jim Jones on the Bounty at Bristol Marine and on the Comanche at Hodgdon Yachts and was impressed with his methodical and deliberate approach to projects. While working at Hodgdon Yachts he learned a lot from his direct supervisor Skip Orne as well. He credits the late David Short, a master shipwright, with whom he worked while restoring the Ernestina Morrissey as having a vast knowledge and experience level of decades. Also mentioned as a significant influence was the late Cecil Pierce from Southport who was the builder of a lobster boat that Ross previously owned.

Ross now works at Bristol Marine where his projects have included restoring the Ernestina Morrissey over a period of seven years. That project was challenging due to the difficulty of cutting live oak for the frame pieces called futtocks. Ross developed a system with a jig on a chainsaw which cut the work of four men to just one, saving time and labor. The process was documented in an article in Wooden Boat. His most important personal project was on the arctic explorer Bowdoin. He and Eric Graves brought in and managed the job which included replacement of 70 bottom planks and 45 futtocks, as well as keel boat and ballast work which took roughly seven months. New projects include a contract with the Boston Tea Party Museum to restore Eleanor, a replica of one of the original Boston Tea Party ships, which will come in the fall and leave next spring.

Ross is proud to work at Bristol Marine due to the high level of professionalism and belief in the preservation of the crafts that were originally used to build these ships. They strive to be the hub of tradition as well as modern craftsmanship in the Boothbay Harbor area.

These days Ross owns larger boats than in his youth. After always being interested in Friendship sloops and lobster boats, he has owned both. He recently sold his Friendship sloop, but currently still owns a 38-foot lobster boat.