 It's almost 40 years ago I was working on a skipjack tied up downtown when here comes this kid of about 13 with a beautiful little model only 4 inches long of the very boat
I was standing on - perfect in every detail. We've been friends, worked, and sailed together ever since.
Mark never stopped building models, in fact, I can't think of too many things he hasn't built; model boats, real boats, ships, houses, musical instruments, furniture,
he brews his own beer under his own Tanbark Sails label that sports his artwork, paints, plants, cooks, fishes, designs boats, and crabs.
Anyone just meeting him might think all he did was drive a tug and crab - but they'd soon find there's a whole lot more to this unassuming fellow.
He grew up fishing and crabbing on the Chesapeake, loving the water, and still does, always has. He's proud of his Irish heritage, which almost always shows in his boats and art.
He loves schooners and boats that work for a living.
 When he's not making something, he can usually be found in his office; the pilot house of the tug Bridget Mcallister that works out of Baltimore, Mark's a licensed captain.
 He's built so many models I've lost track, I think he's lost track too. His latest is his Son of Erin (there's that Irish thing again) which he designed and built completely from scratch.
It can be converted from a sloop to a schooner - and it's a beautiful little swimmer that's a joy to sail. His latest 1:1 scale boat is a 14 foot skiff which, again,
he designed and built from scratch that rows, sails, motors, and most importantly, catches those Maryland Blue Crabs.
 
 
 
 Coenen Luc lives in Limberg Belgium. He has always had a dream of building and sailing a model square-rigger. He says: "A static model is seen by a few people,
family, friends, they look for a moment, say it is beautiful and then move on. A model of a sailing square rigger on a pond is a seldom seen thing,
it gets the attention of people, they enjoy it, and come to chat".
 For Coenen, sailing the model confirms that he has done his job, but it is the building he really enjoys.
Coenen has built his square-rigger; the Spanish battleship Santissima Trinidad of 130 guns, that flew the flag of Rear-Admiral Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
I've no doubt this three-master gets attention at his pond in Belgium, I thought it deserved some attention from other places.
 
 
 
 
 
A complete build log with a great many more pictures and details can be seen at: RCGroups.
As I move forward with this column I am considering where it should go, and where Mark wanted it to go. To see that meant looking at where it had been.
Thanks to Mike here at Duckworks, the column's index is complete, and every issue of WTWB back to 2006 can be easily accessed.
Mark brought attention to the hobby of model sailing in general, and promoted it by introducing us to so many people with such a diversity of ideas of
what this hobby meant to them. He showed us projects, events, clubs, and finished models that ranged from cute to awe inspiring, from all over the world.
That's where we're going to go.
The Internet is a strange, even bizarre place, but it is also a wondrous place that connects the world unlike anything before it.
I'm personally associated with more people outside the US than I am in the neighborhood where I live. This connection has brought to my model building ideas, suggestions, help,
and friendship, all of which I return as much as I can, which lead me to take up the continuation of this column.
I think Mark was a little bit biased in his coverage. He had a love for sailing and sailing vessels and while the column touched on some other subjects here and there,
it's focus was always on sailing models. I carry that same bias, and therefore intend to retain that focus - model boats that sail under the power of the wind,
remotely controlled, or otherwise.
Keeping this column going will require your help. I want to hear from you, and especially about your model projects. If you are involved in, or know someone involved in sailing models, email me, and we'll expose them on an international scale, where their efforts might inspire some other would-be
model sailor into action.
Dark brown is the river,
Golden is the sand.
It flows along for ever,
With trees on either hand.
Green leaves a-floating,
Castles of the foam,
Boats of mine a-boating -
Where will all come home?
On goes the river
And out past the mill,
Away down the valley,
Away down the hill.
Away down the river,
A hundred miles or more,
Other little children
Shall bring my boats ashore.
Robert Louis Stevenson
Where the Winds Blow Index of articles. |
