The people behind the work

Girard de Witt

Girard is a naval architect and shipwright,in his 70's,who has runned shipyard in the Philipinnes,Thailand and the USA.
It was my chance to meet him while docked at Sugar Docks in Richmond, CA, and he accepted to become my director of work and mentor ,when we realised the amount of restoration needed !!!
His knowledge is priceless as is his friendship !!

Pierre Poliakoff

Pierre is a sailor whith great experience, notably on Pen Duik VI, also a good shipwright and basically good at anything he touch !!!!
He is a friend of a friend and we meet the first time when he arrives at SF Airport for a 3 month hard work just for the fun of it !!
His experience and knowledge were also invaluable.

Juan

Juan was hired with a friend for sanding the hull
and I kept him all the way !!
He is the one who did all the long boring repetitive work (cleaning the seams of old caulking,unplugging all the nails and screws,replugging them all with new plugs,recaulking the hull with 5200...)
His consistency,seriousness and gentleness made him also an invaluable part of this restoration effort !!