[alberg30] Jules Hanson

[FINNUS505 at aol.com]

From: FINNUS505 at aol.com

Hi  Scott,
Oh boy, the memories are flowing now.
I knew Jules Hanson.  When I was very little, a stop into his boatshop in 
Mill Basin in Brooklyn was a weekly pilgramage on Sat. morning on our way to 
our boatyard at the end of E 69th street to work on our own boats.
He had an old fashioned boat shop, the kind you see in photos of Norway or 
Sweden.   In the far corner was a big old cast iron pot bellied stove, which 
warmed the place in winter, and was his heat source for his steam box.  The 
rough wood floor was covered in wood chips and shavings everywhere but for 
narrrow paths along his workbench and under the boat he was working on.  Rows 
of clamps hung from racks, and his tools were happhazardly strewn across the 
workbench that lined the one side of the shop.  Photos of Jules in the'20s 
hung from the walls, the Big Yachts of Long Island Sound of the time, when he 
was 'topman', the guy who stood on the cross trees of those huge gaff sloops 
and cutters, clearing halyards for the 'Swedish Steam" below on deck.  
Sawdust gathered on the lower pieces of the picture frames, making it look 
like the yachts were sailing through seas of pine and mahogony. He was 
building mostly champion Stars at the time- the mid 60's, but he built 
Lightnings and Penguins, too. As well as repairing boats. He had a small yard 
in front of the shop, filled with boats ready for shipment, or waiting for 
repairs.  what a place.  And what a carpenter.  You couldnt see his scarfs.  
I don't think he used screws. Everything was fitted and glued. And he was a 
gentleman in every sense of the word.
There was one badly  mangled Star in his front yard that sat there for years. 
 She was his pride when built. He told the story over and over about how when 
she was weighed in the first time, she came in 'to the pound....to the 
pound!!!"  apparently downwind she was untouchable.  She won her share of LI 
championships, but then, one day she broke free from her trailer hitch on the 
highway, and a roadside barrier tore out her bow and side.  The owner brought 
her back to Jules, who knew even repaired, her weight or racing would never 
be the same, so there she sat. A little boy can fantasize about a boat like 
that, or obsess as the case may be, but, she sat there until someone in a 
boatyard across the street bought her, and did some rough repairs to get her 
sailing again. I dont think she ever raced again, but at least she got back 
into the water.  Jules had a stroke in the mid 70's, and that slowed him down 
significantly, and I think he passed away in the early 80's. The last time I 
drove by, the building was still there, but its being used as a school bus 
repair garage now, and the yard is filled with yellow school bus', not wooden 
boats.   I always felt priviledged to have known him.  He make a boom and 
hatches for my dad's P sloop in the early 70's. Flawless and beautiful.  One 
of his early Stars is in Mystic Seaport, in the small watercraft collection.  
Not many Brooklyn boats allowed in Connecticut, so you know it's special!!!
Take care Scott,
Lee
Stargazer #255

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