It’s always great to see nautical craftsmanship spring up in unusual places. I read this nice little article in Classic Wooden Boat, a UK magazine, about Teja Wooden Boats, a Lithuanian boat builder that will make you the sweetest little oak clinker for a bargain.
If I had a spare $6-7K this would be high up on the list. What a little beauty!
This hit a special note for me as my Dad was from Lithuania. I wasn’t aware of their nautical history but according to Teja’s web site (I think they used Google Translate as this is a little wonky):
Our venture started here in Lithuania, on the east coast of the Baltic sea, where Baltic tribe lived, merchants of which in the 3rd – 6th centuries by the sea traded amber with the Roman Empire and then in the 7th and 8th centuries fought with ships of Vikings, and where fishermen and yachtsmen, navigating in the sea till nowadays, left their important seafaring heritage. We are happy to be a part of a new generation of Lithuanian boat builders, maintaining the traditions of the past.
I have been reading this blog for quite sometime now, and this is my first comment. I would like to tell you that I enjoy reading this blog, and that I love thought provoking articles like this!
…more about wooden boats built in Lithuania: http://www.classicboats.lt
I don’t know much about sailing, but I would like to learn more. I just finished reading a book called Unsinkable, about a 16-year old girl who attempted to sail around the world solo and was shipwrecked in the Indian Ocean. Here’s a link to the Amazon page: http://dld.bz/VXHn
I like the carving on the boat. How many months did you make it?
Skilled boat builders are a vanishing breed. The number of people who take an interest in this craft is also diminishing. Let us just hope that a new generation of boat builders can emerge before the art of boat-making becomes forever lost.
Lithuanian built dinghies have been on sale in France and Italy since 2006, however the early boats were not built in accordance with the Dutch or Italian rules and were sold as ‘being in the style of an International 12-foot Dinghy’. Since 2007 the International Association has encouraged the Lithuanian constructors to build boats which conform to the Class rules and regulations, and recently a Lithuanian-built boat has been granted a class certificate.