Paul Huelle
I grew up on the water, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in
the 50’s in what was still, then, wooden boat
country. Like so many other kids who got to experience this
wonderful environment, I was a sponge that soaked it all
up. When I was nine, my dad came home with an ancient
barnegat sneak box sailboat he’d gotten at auction
for twelve bucks. It was complete, sail rig, oars and
sculling sweep, all in authentic OD green finish. My dad
didn’t know how to sail so I had to figure it out
myself, much to his terror and my own satisfaction. From
that point on it was a part of me including the scraping,
painting, caulking and bailing ... Boat construction and
design also fascinated me. By some act of fortuitous good
fortune our home was situated amidst skilled craftsmen. We
were near two notable boat yards, Jim Richardson's, known
for his exquisitely constructed baycraft and Bill
Dickerson's, for his notable Dickerson 32 and 35 ketches;
next door to a professional antique auto restorer, D.C.
Price Sr. on the one side, and H.I. Chapelle, on the other.
It was an intense kind of boy heaven for me.
"Chapie" gladly showed me how to draw fair lines with ducks
and splines. He loved the work and it rubbed off on me.
Dale Price restored steam cars and engines for the
Smithsonian. Dale Jr. and I became the cheap labor he
needed for cleaning the parts. I was equally fascinated
with the way that machinery worked. I became a marine
engineer, first in the navy and then in the merchant
marine. But, since life doesn’t always go where
it’s pointed, I ultimately wound up in the desert
Southwest without a boat. And, there, after a period of
years being utterly miserable and seeming to enjoy it, I
finally got myself around to began the journey back to the
activity I loved most as a boy, drawing boats.
Fair winds and following seas,
Paul
Huelle