Building a boat from scratch is not an easy task, especially if you have never done anything like it before.
That鈥檚 what Leith White, pastor of Friends 黑马磁力 Vineyard Church, and several of his students quickly discovered when they were put to the task.
He, along with six members of his congregation ages 9 to 17, spent four days building two 12-foot wooden dinghies (Bevin鈥檚 Skiffs) during the 25th annual Vancouver Wooden Boat Festival, held on Granville Island at the end of August.
With the supervision of a professional boat builder, the teams set out to construct floatable ships using a number of tools and building supplies provided by organizers.
鈥淲hen someone says you鈥檙e going to build a boat, I鈥檓 like 鈥極K.鈥�
鈥淵ou just try to wrap your mind around that and try to prepare others for what that may look like,鈥� White said.
鈥淣one of us had done anything like it before.鈥�
Working long laborious hours, the job could be quite taxing at times.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 a kit boat. Pieces didn鈥檛 necessarily always come pre-constructed,鈥� White said.
鈥淵ou need to saw things and measure things out. When it came to assembly, there were clamps and glue and nails and screws.鈥�
Although there was no time for painting or finishing the cosmetics of the ships, they were water worthy by the end of the weekend and the students were able to break the waters of Granville Island with their hand-made creations.
鈥淎t the end of the day it鈥檚 always great to see something like that float in the water, when it鈥檚 your first kick at the can,鈥� White said.
But it was more than just a ship that was built.
鈥淭here was just a great sense of team and camaraderie to accomplish this,鈥� White said.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 one of the rewarding things in just working together as a team. It鈥檚 diversity in action. Not everyone is the same age, not everyone is from the same background, but we are all working on the same thing, and it was just great to watch this boat float around Granville Island.鈥�
The boats will now be painted and auctioned off in a fundraiser for the church鈥檚 monthly community meals and other youth programs.
For more information, visit www.langleyvineyard.com.
