GSA Alum Attends Northwest School of Boatbuilding on Scholarship + The Twins Project

Oliver Lardner spent most of his childhood years in Barcelona, Spain then he moved to Blue Hill year-round at the age of fourteen in order to attend George Stevens Academy. He and his family had spent most summers in Blue Hill, and Oliver (like lots of summer visitors) had developed a taste for sailing. He became an instructor at the local yacht club and regularly sailed Optis and 420s.

As a senior at George Stevens, Oliver discovered a love of woodworking. Oliver says about this time, “I loved GSA, but I didn’t necessarily love being in school. But I really loved woodworking, and I grew up in an area seeing so many wooden boats, and I thought why not boatbuilding?” Oliver decided to pursue wooden boatbuilding.

Oliver started at Brooklin Boat Yard where Eric Blake recognized long-term potential in the young, enthusiastic person. He pitched an idea to Oliver: “How would you like to go to the best wooden boatbuilding school in the country for a year?” Oliver was game.

Oliver has been at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding since September, and he describes a typical day to me. It begins with a few hours of theory in the morning. It’s followed by hands-on instruction and various tool-focused work. That lasts about six hours. Oliver says it’s an intense day and includes a lot of information, but it’s exciting to be learning so much. He’s set to be a part of the Twins Project (see above) and work on two new builds (one traditional + one cold-molded); he sounds pretty psyched about it.

Oliver says he’s impressed with the folks at the school and throughout Port Townsend- his experience has been nothing but positive. He is walking on the beach in Barcelona as I’m talking to him for this interview, but he’s headed back to Washington the next day. He plans to return to BBY upon completion where he can put his newfound tools to immediate use.

The Twins Project at NWSWB:

Early in 2024, we were approached by Sean Koomen - past carpenter at BBY and now lead instructor of the boatbuilding program at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock, WA – who asked us to partner with the school on a student project. The school has built a variety of wooden boats in their classes over the last several years, including both traditionally built plank-on-frame boats and modern wood-composite boats. This time, though, they wanted to do something differently; they wanted to build both a traditional boat and a modern version side-by-side. Jim Franken, a West Coast yacht designer, has drawn up a beautiful 26’ full-keel pilot cutter that will be built in a traditional manner. We were tasked with creating a design that would capture the essence of the pilot cutter but combine it with modern performance and introduce the students to the advanced wood-composite techniques we use in our builds.

The result of our design is a light and fast daysailer designed to maximize the fun-factor of sailing. Her relatively narrow beam, lightweight hull, and high ballast ratio will make her easily driven, so a massive rig and crew weight on the rail won’t be necessary to sail fast. The balanced hull lines will make her well-mannered, but with enough reserve righting moment and planning area aft that she will have plenty of “get up and go” downwind! She is decidedly a fast daysailer rather than a sportboat, and is intended to be sailed from within the cockpit rather than relying on hiking to keep her under control. An electric pod drive provides unobtrusive auxiliary power. Down below is simple- – she is wide open to minimize weight save for only essential sitting headroom and full-length settee/berths port and starboard- just enough for camping. This open aesthetic will also give the students a chance to highlight their growing woodworking skills, as every bit of the structure will be on full display!

As if this weren’t enough- to be a part of a unique teaching opportunity that furthers the craft of wooden boatbuilding- our own Oliver Lardner, who is featured in this month’s newsletter below, is part of the student group working on the Twins Project. We are eager to see the images from the project, which began this week at NWSWBB.

To learn more about the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding and the Twins Project, visit their website here.

Oliver Lardner (above), BBY employee and NWSWBB student, is pictured working on the BBY 26’ sloop that is part of the NWSWBB Twins Project.

The sail plan for the BBY-designed 26’ daysailer for the Twins Project.