USS Constitution:
Preserving "Old Ironsides"
with
Margherita Desy

Tuesday, June, 7:30 pm

Waterline Center
Essex Shipbuilding Museum

Margherita Desy is the Historian for the Naval History & Heritage Command Detachment Boston, working with USS Constitution. Last year Ms. Desy led a group from our museum on a wonderful tour to see the work of preservation below her decks. She will speak about the continuing restoration of “Old Ironsides”.

Ms. Desy has spent 10 years at the USS Constitution Museum as Associate Curator and Curator. She has also worked at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, and for 20 years at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut.

Margherita was script advisor and on-camera historian for the 1997 History Channel production “Old Ironsides Returns to the Sea”, and provided color commentary for Boston WCVB’s Channel 5 coverage of USS Constitution’s historic sail in 1997 and the Sail Boston 2000 Tall Ships gathering. She currently teaches at Tufts University as adjunct faculty for the Museum Studies Program in the Graduate and Professional Studies Department.  

Admission:
$6 members
$8 nonmembers

Waterline Center
Essex Shipbuilding Museum
66 Main Street
Essex, MA

(the Waterline Center is handicap accessible)

For additional information, please call 978-768-7541

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Upcoming Courses

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Kayak Building Workshop
with Rick Eliot

August 22-29, 2009

Waterline Center
Essex Shipbuilding Museum

If you would enjoy building and paddling your own ultra light Eskimo style Kayak, costing half as much as a heavy plastic boat, this is the right course for you.  Ladies, in particular, will love these lightweight, easy to paddle kayaks. Building your own is both fun and saves money. In just one week you will have a kayak weighing less than 30 pounds, easy to carry, fast and responsible to paddle.

Workshops are eight days from 8-4.  All tools and materials provided; no prior carpentry skills required. We use an electric jigsaw, drill, and hand tools. Bring your own if you wish. Extensive course preparation has reduced working time to a minimum. In addition, new developments in building materials make these boats lighter, easier to build, and sleeker looking than in past years. The hard chine frame is made of cedar, pine, plywood, and foam core panel. The hull is sheathed in 9 oz. Polyester then coated with Coelan, a nearly bulletproof marine polyurethane.

Each person chooses their own design and colors. There are nine options ranging from a 12 foot junior size, wide family touring kayak, 18 foot high performance racing and exercise Kayak. Family members can enroll together and enjoy a team-building project.  Additional options include a round cockpit shape, custom-fit seat, thigh braces, cockpit rain cover, and sponsons. The last class day is spent on the water learning to paddle your beautiful light, and efficient craft.

All our designs are based on traditional skin covered kayaks which were used for thousands of years by Eskimo seal hunters. The Inuit’s ability to make quiet seaworthy kayaks was an important survival skill, and an essential part of native Arctic cultures and way of life. You will have the satisfaction of building, and the fun of paddling, your own version of these famous Greenland kayaks.

Tuition is $1,200. Students, school teachers, husband-wife twin boats, or special cases, $1,100. Enrollment is limited to six persons.

Registration closes a week before, so sign up early to hold a place.

How to sign up

Request information from reliot@charter.net or call Rick at 802-626-5226.  Rick will send you four workshop pages.  Read the “Selecting Your Future Kayak” page and pick a design you like. Then complete the “Registration Form” and send it to the Essex Shipbuilding Museum.

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Kayak Maintenance Course
with Rick Eliot

August 18-19, 2009

The Maintenance workshop is two days, 8-4. It includes many activities that kayak owners might find useful such as, making repairs, a contoured seat, thigh braces, GPS holder, deck safety lines, a Greenland paddle, harpoon, car roof rack, cockpit cover, dry bag, new hull covering, new paint, and other projects as time allows.

The base cost is $250 but can vary depending on materials required.

How to sign up

Request information from reliot@charter.net or call Rick at 802-626-5226.