“The Superior Watershed Partnership is excited for the local community engagement this collaboration will encourage with the Great Lakes Conservation Corps,” said Emily Leach, SWP program manager, in an email.

The SWP will be involved more on the science side. Located on Presque Isle, the organization is a part of many conservation initiatives as well as energy conservation and alternative energy programs. Its mission focuses on improving Upper Peninsula natural resources on a watershed basis.

Its GLCC involves crews working through the U.P. on a variety of projects dealing with issues such as climate change, stream restoration and wildlife habitat restoration.

While there has been a small group of local boat-building enthusiasts collaborating for many years, according to the SWP, they formally launched Marquette Community Boatbuilding, or MCB, in 2018.

Marquette Community Boatbuilding and the Superior Watershed Partnership are collaborating to allow people to build a boat as well as monitor the ecological health of Lake Superior. The boat is a Scottish St. Ayles skiff. (Photo courtesy of the SWP)

The main objective of MCB is to offer opportunities for interested individuals to learn about traditional wooden boats through hands-on experience. Not only that, they would help build boats and then row their finished products on Lake Superior.

MCB is building a 22-foot Scottish St. Ayles skiff, a rugged coastal rowing boat that can accommodate a crew of up to five members: typically four rowers and a coxswain, or cox, who steers and directs the rowers. The skiff will be built of oak and marine plywood and should take about a year from the start to complete depending on community participation, the SWP said.

When the skiff is complete, the SWP and the GLCC will use the skiff for coastal habitat restoration, monitoring, research and outreach programming. The SWP also will provide opportunities for community members to row the skiff and assist with Lake Superior monitoring events.

The builders will meet from 6 to 8 p.m. Mondays at Potts’ shop, Tamarack Custom Builders, located along Lakeshore Boulevard.

Potts and other local residents already have been involved in a community boat-build: a Cornish pilot gig named the Lark, which the community has been using — under the proper supervision, of course — for recreational trips on Lake Superior.

In a 2015 interview with The Mining Journal, Potts explained that when sailing ships would come in to the rocky coast of Cornwall, England, in the 19th century, a local pilot would meet the ships. The first boat that could put a pilot onto an incoming boat would get the work and the money.

“It’s a super seaworthy, able boat, perfect for Lake Superior and rowing,” Potts said at the time, “so we picked it, when we started this project, because it would be a really good boat for Lake Superior, a great open-water boat.”

Potts said the new skiff will have “lots of overlap” with the Lark.

“It is hoped that the new boat, the St. Ayles skiff, will compete against Lark and others in regional regattas when it is complete,” he said.

The Lark operated last summer from the Marquette Yacht Club, which should be its home base this year, said Potts, who noted the goal is for the skiff to be launched in September.

“I think community boat-building is worthwhile for costal towns to expose people to the natural resources that they live so close to,” Potts said. “Lake Superior is a crucial resource. Superior can also be intimidating and dangerous.

“These big, fixed-seat rowing boats enable regular folks to experience the lake in a safe and social manner. The boats can be built by community members for modest amounts of money and effort. The time spent working on one is enjoyable.”

According to staylesskiff.net, the St. Ayles skiff story started in early 2009 when the Scottish Fisheries Museum approached boat kit manufacturer Alec Jordan to run a boat-build in the museum’s boatyard with students from Adam Smith College.

During the conversations regarding the project over the eventual use of the skiff, Jordan raised the possibility of reviving the coastal rowing regattas that had taken place in the mining villages in the East Fife coalfields until the early 1950s.

The museum commissioned boat designer Iain Oughtred to design a replica of the Fair Isle skiff to be constructed from a plywood kit Jordan was to draw up from Oughtred’s plans. The prototype then was built in seven weeks, taking to the water on Halloween 2009.

To take part in the skiff project, contact Potts at 906-361-4897 or mpotts205@att.net. To help with lake-monitoring activities, contact Leach at 906-228-6095 or emily@superiorwatersheds.org.