Description
A year inside the boatyard — watching a master build his last boat. Douglas Whynott, acclaimed author of Giant Bluefin, spent a full year at the Brooklin Boat Yard in Maine as master designer Joel White created his final masterpiece. A Unit of Water, a Unit of Time is the book that came out of that year: patient, luminous, and quietly profound.
White was no ordinary craftsman — the son of E.B. White, the man who gave us Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little, he chose the water as his canvas and became one of America’s most respected wooden-boat designers. Whynott was there for everything: the lofting of lines in the mold loft, the smell of fresh-cut timber, the slow emergence of a vessel its maker knew would outlive him.
For lovers of craft, the sea, and beautifully observed nonfiction. A meditation on making things well — and on fathers, sons, and the boats between them.
There is a special kind of book that transports you into a world you never knew existed — and A Unit of Water, a Unit of Time is one of them. Douglas Whynott, acclaimed author of Giant Bluefin, spent a full year at the Brooklin Boat Yard in Maine, watching master boat designer Joel White create his final masterpiece.
Joel White was no ordinary craftsman. The son of beloved author E.B. White — the man who gave us Charlotte’s Web — Joel chose the water as his canvas, becoming one of America’s most respected wooden boat designers. As White dreamed up his last boat, Whynott was there for every stage: the lofting of lines, the smell of fresh-cut timber, the quiet arguments between designer and builder over fractions of an inch.
First published in 1999, the book is part biography, part meditation on craftsmanship, and part love letter to a disappearing way of life. Whynott writes about boats the way a naturalist writes about wildlife — with patience, precision, and deep affection.
You do not need to know a transom from a topside to be swept along. This is a story about making something beautiful with your hands, and about the people who keep old traditions alive, one plank at a time.
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