Douglas Brooks

My work is focussed on the appreciation and continued use of traditional wooden boats, and the preservation and sharing of the skills and knowledge needed to build wooden boats. These include American and English boat types, as well as the small boats of Japan.

My first chance to build a boat came in 1980, when I was a college student in the Williams-Mystic Maritime Studies Program at Mystic Seaport Museum. As a volunteer in the Seaport shipyard I got to work with Willits Ansel building a replica of a Noank lobster skiff. After graduation I was able to parlay that knowledge into a job at Stone Boatyard in Alameda, California. A bit later I found a job at San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park where I worked in the museum’s Small Boat Shop.

In 1990 I left the museum and traveled to Japan. There I met several boat builders, one of whom would later become my first teacher. Since 1990 I have worked independently, building custom boats and designing and directing museum boat building projects. I also began writing about my work and research.

Sincerely,

Douglas Brooks