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The fall season slid quickly into winter, as we finished up the hauling season and wrapped
everyone up for the snows. The shop is full of boats and spars. The New Year got off to a
rough start when we learned how sick Pearl was. Please visit Pearl's Page. We have a great crew
who made sure that work went on.
Projects
Cleopatra is still in the shop. She received her new Beta diesel and full
electronics. The sail plan was drawn up by John Brady and looks very seaworthy. Her owners
have been gently pushing us along to try to get her out of the shop and back to their yard
as soon as possible.

Cleopatra's New Bow Sprit | 
Cleopatra's New Diesel |

Cleopatra with some of the finished
work.
We completed Allen Ward's Baybird and now have 4 others in the yard for restoration or
repair. The Baybird class is growing; we now have leads on14 boats and are succeeding in
increasing the racing fleet on Pleasant Bay.

Helen Kelsey's Baybird, our third restoration. |

Dr. Ward's Baybird |
Felix, the Handy Cat, is gutted and prepped for the new cored floor and slatted seats. She
should be ready in a month.

Handy Cat "Fritz" |
We are busy in the spar shop with a dozen or so spars for Arey's Pond
including the rig for the new 22 foot catboat designed by
Tony Davis and currently under construction by Dan Gould. Other spars include a mast for a
Newman Gray Friendship Sloop, and a 32-foot cat yawl.

"Pile O'Spars" |
This past November, Dan Gould and I traveled to NYC to measure the Federal Reserve Bank
flagpoles. The poles are quite ornate and most likely had been built by former spar makers
in the early twenties. It will be wonderful to continue that history, of spar makers
building flagpoles, once the project gets going. Unfortunately, we live in very different
times where liability becomes more important than craft. At this point there are many
engineers and architects weighing in to give us the go-ahead. Look for a page on both our
web sites as this project develops.
The Crew
We are becoming a very solid team as we grow. The efforts of each individual
contribute greatly to our success.
Brian Burke has continued to do a masterful job building the Classic Cats and Baybirds.
Brian has contributed his time and energy towards the future success of MR in ways that
are unfathomable. We are celebrating his first year with us and look forward to many more.
Conor Benoit, our senior at Nauset Regional High School did get Early Acceptance to Mass
Maritime Academy and we are extremely proud of him. He is an engaging young man who brings
his humor and solid work ethic to the crew.
Brian Porter, our other NRHS senior, was accepted into the Landing School in Arundel, ME
for next years Cruising Boats Boat Building Program. Brian has been working on his own
boat building project at school building the cosine wherry. He's been working along side
the crew here on a variety of projects.
Brianna Morton has joined us in the office helping out to keep us on an even keel. She is
a NRHS Junior majoring in business and interning with us for what we hope will be a long
relationship.
Brenden McVickar is working hard at Fitchburg completing his sophomore year and will be
back here managing the yard for the summer.
We have a new crewmember that joined us in December. Doug Ingram has spent his life around
boats, sailing summers out of Wellfleet. With his relocation to the Cape, Doug has been
able to switch from his engineering background to his passion: boats and boat building.
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