Women's History Month Interview

By Nina Noah

This month, amidst all of the coronavirus uncertainty and upheaval, I had an opportunity to sit down with (over the phone, of course) our Waterfront and Seamanship Director and recent graduate of the 12-week program, Emma Hathaway. I wanted to hear about what her experience in the program was like and what she gained from her time spent on the shop floor.

Here, Emma is coving out the rub rails for the Mary Lacy using the table saw. This is one of the final steps in the Susan Skiff build. Photo Credit: Erin Tokarz.

As you may already know, Emma’s Susan Skiff, the Mary Lacy, is being raffled off to help raise funds for a boatbuilding scholarship for women. Emma named her skiff Mary Lacy to bring awareness to an historic female figure who spent the majority of her life under the guise of a man in order to work as a boatbuilder and mariner. The goal of the scholarship is to encourage female participation within a space and skill set that has traditionally been the domain of males, inviting women to strive for their full potential in this challenging and rewarding context. The women’s scholarship is part of a new long-term initiative at the Apprenticeshop toward diversity, equity, and inclusion across the organization, from our student and apprentice population to our staff and board membership.

Emma and her almost completed skiff. Here, she’s drilling the fastener holes to be able to attach the oarlock pads to the hull. Photo Credit: Nate Hathaway.

When Emma started her intensive, she came with a long resume of sailing and leadership experience. But she had never built a boat before. When I asked her about that, she laughed and said she jokingly calls herself a Hackender; “I can cut wood and make it mostly do the thing I want it to do, but I have never worked in construction or worked as a professional carpenter or had more professional training.” Though she has definitely used tools in her time aboard or fitting out the boats she’s sailed on, she was pretty new to many of the hand tools we use regularly around the shop.

Did it feel different to be an apprentice after working as a staff member? What did you learn from taking on a different role in the ‘Shop?

It’s definitely very different and I definitely learned a lot. The biggest difference is the way you own your time. When someone else is paying you, they own your time. Here, I owned my time; motivation came differently - I wasn’t motivated by a paycheck.

The actual thing I was doing was also very different. As an employee, I’m teaching or out on the water or in the yard dealing with people. This was very much indoors, and the motivation had to come from a different place. I could say I only want to work until 4 not 5, or oh, I really want to come in on the weekend to get this thing done. For some people that’s hard. I found it pretty motivating.

I really appreciated being able to share at Walk-Around in a way that I haven’t gotten to as a staff member. For as much as I am comfortable as a teacher in front of other people, it’s challenging for me to speak up in a group setting like that. It was good practice.

What were your favorite aspects of the project?

The creation part of it. You’re making something from something that it wasn’t before. I love the crafting and attention to detail, the joinery. I’ve used many of the tools before but in a very rough way. I come from the land of structural paint. We’re not worried about yacht finish. It’s not fine and pretty work; it’s get ‘er done and move on. I enjoyed having the time and space to do things over; to be able to truly learn and develop the patience to go back in there and try again because it’s too big of a gap, or adjust the bevel so it’s a nicer fit. 

I also really enjoyed learning about all the different tools. Before, I didn’t know what all the different planes were for. What is a bull nose plane, a rabbit plane, a skew plane? It’s something I feel very inspired to share with the public. It was so cool to me and so easy to understand once you’re using the thing; once you need to remove wood in a certain grain direction or are constrained by space, you realize why you need a certain tool to do the job. And when you find the tool that does the job, it’s very satisfying. 

What did you find most challenging?

Gosh, I really want a prehensile tail!

Being able to forgive yourself for making mistakes is very challenging. Ok I made the mistake and that’s very frustrating and I have all sorts of feelings about that and I forgive myself. Because no one else is going to care. But I care. I hold myself to a very high standard. So being able to process that and move forward - to understand what I’ve done and learn from it - is necessary. 

It’s also hard not to know. I’ve spent so much time in the teacher role that it’s enlightening to be in the place of the student. I try to be cognizant of that as a teacher. But it’s still difficult when you’re in that student role; it’s very humbling to be like “What? Can you explain that again? I still don’t get it. I need help.” I’m feeling the humility again. And coming to the realization that there’s just so much to know and so much to do, and you can’t know it or do it all. 

In a funny way, it’s hard to be done. It was easy for me to switch gears from working to being a student. But on this end, I’m struggling with the idea that someone now owns my time again. I’m glad I have a job and get a paycheck, but the emotional shift is strange. I really like making things and I want to keep doing it, even though I’m done. So I’ve still been doing little things like carving a name board and making lanyards for the oarlocks, because I want to keep doing it. Mary Lacy is very much infused with my blood, my sweat, and my tears. Boats have their own personality. It’s hard not to personify her and feel very attached. It will be hard - or bittersweet - to say goodbye. Where will she go? Who will get her? Someone will get that boat and I have no control over who that person is. But I want to pass along that feeling and intention of stewardship.

What did you learn through the process of building the boat? Did building the boat have a significant impact on the way you think about yourself?

I certainly feel much more comfortable in the shop itself. My work before was much more outside. It’s nice to be more familiar with where the sandpaper is, how to use the tools, some of the idiosyncrasies of the tools. I also learned a lot of technical skills, like spiling and more boat terminology.

As far as the personal learning, yes. A lot of what I’ve been thinking about through the process is personal identity. Who Am I? How has this changed me? Can I now call myself a boatbuilder? I built a boat. Is that part of my identity now? Our identities are obviously very complex. It has impacted how I think about myself and how I think about my space in this world and what the highest and best use of my time and body is. I’m still mulling this over.

It’s also hard work. My hands are sore at the end of the day, my arms. You’re using your body and using tools vs. being at the computer. I am proud of the boat that I built. It makes me feel good to feel like I’ve done a good job. It’s validating. It makes me think that maybe I’m better at carpentry than I give myself credit for. Maybe I am more than a Hackender and have a skill that I can share and build on. 

Did you gain anything else from the experience that you hadn’t anticipated when you first started?

Sure. You do anticipate that you get better at carpentry skills. You know it’s going to be challenging and there are going to be moments of frustration. Maybe it’s the self-acceptance, self-forgiveness. Having other people be so accepting of you and your actions and choices helps validate your existence. It makes it easier to accept yourself. It gets rid of some of the self-doubt. Self-doubt is a thing I struggle with and that is something I hadn’t anticipated being able to overcome as much. When other people don’t doubt you, it’s harder to doubt yourself. I didn’t expect to gain that confidence.