"Dynamite" Payson...

I really hate days like this...

You get up, fix the coffee, sit down to check your email and scan the news when that errant bit of information leaps out at you... Bad news.

Whenever someone writes and asks which book to read to get into boatbuilding or repair I always suggest the various "Instant Boatbuilding" titles because they make it all simple with no excess baggage. That was "Dynamite" Payson's gift to many of us... Boatbuilding without the baggage.

Dynamite's partnership with Phil Bolger is the stuff of legend but without Dynamite, Phil Bolger would be just a small footnote in the grand scheme of things and not the infamous designer that just about everyone has an opinion of (both good and bad). Without Payson's writing and promotion of his designs Phil would never have risen to a greater public awareness.

Of course, without Phil Bolger's brilliant designs, Dynamite Payson would, more than likely, have been just another guy up in Maine pulling lobsters and building boats... Not a boatbuilding guru and mentor to thousands.

Sometimes things come together just right...

We would never have discovered Phil Bolger's work if not for buying a copy of "Build The New Instant Boats" and building a Nymph. If not for the book and the Nymph, we never would have bought plans for the Micro or built our Jessie Cooper "Loose Moose", and, of course, that led to our getting Phil to design Loose Moose 2 for us...

... and this morning I heard that Dynamite Payson passed away.

I really hate days like this.

So it goes...