Photo Credit: Courtesy of Gary Mysorski
A small sailboat with two young sailors glides across the pool and makes a graceful “come about” before heading back toward shallow water. Don’t be shocked to find sailboats in a swimming pool--it’s part of a summer class offered by the Port Aransas Parks & Recreation Department in Texas.
Picking Up Steam
The program started in 2000 as a summer boat-building activity, using plans purchased for a nutshell pram. After department officials had already purchased the supplies, there was not sufficient enrollment, so the volunteer who was going to teach the class decided to build one of the boats on his own time.
The boat construction project became part of the high school technical-trades program when the volunteer accepted the position of shop teacher that fall. The parks and recreation department purchased additional supplies, and students built two more nutshell prams as part of the woodworking curriculum--measuring, cutting, gluing, caulking and painting--all while having fun doing something different.
