SOUTH BRISTOL, Maine — With a practiced eye and strong hands, John Paul pulls the blade of a spokeshave across the edge of a small piece of maple, trimming it, ever-so-slightly, for a perfect fit.
The piece will become one more part of the curved settee in the main "salon" space of the schooner Black Swan.
He fits the piece precisely, as he has the countless other pieces of the 50-foot wooden schooner. It is a true labor of love, passion, and dedication. John Paul has been building the vessel, by himself, for more than 40 years.
"Every once in a while, someone will come to me and say, 'I'd like to build a boat,' and I say, 'Really?' And I say, 'Unless you passionately love doing the work, go out a buy a boat. If your aim is to own a boat and sail the boat, you will never finish it,'" he explained.
John's wife, Jan, added, "You have to have the passion for building it."
It's a passion the two have been sharing for 57 years or marriage. It actually goes back even longer, to when John started building his first schooner, a 20-footer, when he was 15 years old.
"I started when I was in high school, finished when I was a freshman or sophomore in college.”
Jan was already part of his life by the time the board was complete. She became that boat's namesake.
"He named it the Janet P," Jan said with a laugh. "Which [made it] really hard for me to sell. It felt like I was selling a child. Didn't bother him, but it bothered me."
Growing up on New York's Long Island, both enjoyed sailing. So after both graduated college, married, and eventually started a family, John wanted to build another schooner—what he sometimes calls "hull number two." Designing it came naturally to him, since he had by then graduated with a degree in naval architecture, and had worked designing big tankers for Esso, which later became Exxon.
"We were walking along the street one day, and I said, 'This is probably a crazy idea, I shouldn’t be building a 50-foot boat, and Jan said, 'No, no, you absolutely have to build the boat.' So all right, off we went," John recalled.
That was more than 40 years ago, when they lived in New Jersey.
Today, after moving to Maine in 2005 with the boat's hull, the dream is still intact, and the big wooden schooner is still under construction, but John says they can "see light at the end of the tunnel."
In a large building at Ocean Point Marina in Boothbay is the gleaming, black-hulled Black Swan, her long bowsprit extending the length of the boat to 60 feet. The care and attention to detail in her construction are clear, even with the sawdust on the hull and boxes of parts and tools filling the cockpit.
"It's really so beautifully done," Jan said, proudly describing the interior finish work that is John’s last major task before the schooner is complete.
Crafting the elegant interior is slow, precise work, and John estimates it could be as much as three more years before Black Swan will be ready for the water.
After working on the boat for so long, though, a few more years seems like a short time to wait.
"Back when I started, I was thinking, oh 10 years, maybe 15 at the outside. So now I'm 35 years behind schedule," he laughed.
John has never quite been able to work full time on Black Swan, because he had a business to run—a paying job. He still has one, and says he typically spends parts of each week working for the industrial conveyor business he and a partner own.
But when that work gets done, he returns to the task he loves, crafting the Black Swan to be as perfect as possible.
And always, Jan is doing all she can to support that work. Packing lunches each day, helping where needed, tolerating the 80-foot-long aluminum masts that have been sitting in their side yard for five years.
"I'm the cheerleader," Jan said of her role.
But it's more than that. It's the passion for the project they have shared for half a century.
"It's exciting and it's something John loves. I love it too. I love him, so I love it too."
The work goes on, and each week, the big schooner moves closer to completion.
They both say they're eager to finally sail the schooner, but insist they are not frustrated by how long it is taking to build. Getting it done, and done right, is John's goal.
Sailing, of course, is also a goal. And while John says the Black Swan is big and rugged enough to sail the world if they wanted, his plans at this point are modest—a trip across the Damariscotta River.
"I say right at the moment, my plans are to sail to Coveside, have a drink, sail back here and have a party. That's the extent of the plan."