Technically, a re-launching. I watched the Fife schooner, ADVENTURESS hauled in Rockport Harbor 3 years ago. From there I watched a project become defined, started, re-defined, and take on a life of it's own. They do(projects), tend to go that way. But some become a near living thing like this one. So many of the huge group of people that have worked on this project smile when they talk about their part in this boats restoration. There's a lot of heart that has gone into this boat in 3 years.

Finally, like a butterfly emerging, the shed that housed her needed to be partially removed. Right now, a herculean trailer is slowly working it's way under the massive 80'er.

The extent and depth of this project is evident in the spars alone. I've watched them built up from rough spruce stock, shaped, finished, spar after spar after spar. The main masts are at least 12" in diameter. Mesmerizing to see these gleaming pieces on saw horses, complete perfection done all by hand. And while in the spar shed as I walked by on countless afternoons, I would see row after row,...after row, of gleaming bronze parts crafted by the metal craftsmen in the same building, from bar and sheet stock.

At times in that shed, with so much wood and bronze clustered in rows, I'd stand speechless just gazing at this artwork.

Beyond the spars, every piece of this boat, has been touched and rebuilt, restored, from all the screws in the planking to a new gleaming fireplace installed below the remarkable new decks. The Fife dragon symbol in gold leaf, looks ready to roar again. It's going to be something to see in the harbor, a stunning sailboat.