y close friend and fellow boat builder, Gary Hilliard, and I were recently reminiscing, over a snort of Buffalo Trace, about when and how we learned our mutual trade. We both came up through the ranks, working for my family, and learned the ropes together. After a second glass of illumination, we concluded that it was a shame that most young builders in the trade today don’t learn the numbers of the how and why from the mold loft floor through commissioning with traditional shipwright’s tools and a manual of calculations in hand. After one more shot of courage, we determined that everyone today is an idiot. Going forward, we should probably hold it to two glasses. The essence of the conversation, before crossing the lucidity threshold, was that people today don’t have a clue what makes things tick. We push a button and out comes the desired result. Within the digital code
