Exploratory Part 1

It was important to document the process of “discovery” before Tony Grove can begin restoring Dorothy in March. He needs to know what he’s up against: how extensive the restoration will be and – more importantly for the Museum – whether it can be done in time and on budget. If her keel needed to be replaced, for example, that could mean she wouldn’t be ready for the race in September, and the Maritime Museum would have to spend more time fundraising. Much then, hinged on what Tony discovered in this exploratory.

The day finally arrived, Wednesday December 18. Kate Bradford and I (Tobi) drove through Gabriola’s first snowfall to Tony’s boat shop on the south end of the island. We had two cameras in tow: the Sony EX1 that both Kate and I use on a regular basis, and a Hero2 GoPro for getting into the odd angles and tight spots. The waterproof, shock-proof casing is invaluable and I’ve used it everywhere from snowmobiles in Nunavut and northern BC to underwater in Brazil. It’s a remarkable little invention and now we were excited to try it in the belly of Dorothy the sailboat.

Kate Bradford (left) on camera, and Tobi Elliott on sound.

We’d talked over the steps Tony would be going through the day before, but we didn’t know exactly how the process would unfold. We would be relying on the boatbuilder’s cues to properly film the unfolding drama. (On a side note: we couldn’t have asked for a better collaborator – Tony has been great with working with our timeline and the necessary constraints that a production puts on his workflow, and we’re incredibly grateful to him for that.)

Prep done, it was time to take a look for the first time beneath Dorothy‘s planks. It was a mystery even to Tony, who didn’t know what he would find. There were definite indications when looking at Dorothy from the outside that something was wrong – even a novice could tell parts of the boat seemed to be separating from one another (see image above) – but he couldn’t tell exactly what was causing it until he pried off her two garboards (the planks just above the keel) and took a look inside.

As Tony started working, Kate followed on camera while I captured sound. It proved to be both a visual feast for the camera lens as well as a rich soundscape: a wide shot of Tony approaching the boat, then closeup detail as he ran his hand over the plank he was about to separate from her ribs; the “scrape, scrape, scrape” at the paint to uncover a fastening, and “thwack!” as he dug in a clawhammer, a closeup of the tools as they dug into the wood, then “bam! bam! bam! as he pounded the claw in with another hammer; a piece of wood being shoved into the crack of the garboard plank to keep it propped open, and then “creeeeeaaakkkkk” as the decades-old copper fastening groaned at being pulled from the wood; “clink” on the floor as Tony dropped it on the cement and then the sharp “CRACK!” as the wedged plank gave another inch or two.

By day two, both of Dorothy’s garboards had been removed and Tony could see clearly what’s going on underneath.

…. TO BE CONTINUED ….