Just in time for a new season on the water, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is aiming to help prospective boaters navigate the buying process.

CBMM Charity Boat Donations & Sales Program Director Wes Williams will lead “Boat Buying 101” on April 19 from 5:30-7:30pm in Van Lennep Auditorium, sharing the ins and outs of what to expect when purchasing a new-to-you vessel. The cost is $25, with a 20% discount for CBMM members, and registration is open now at bit.ly/BoatBuying101.

Williams is well-equipped to teach this crash course with a lengthy history of buying and selling boats. He has been a boat owner since he was 12 years old, and he spent a decade as owner/operator of a marina in Texas before arriving at CBMM in February 2021.

With this presentation, Williams aims to offer insight that can be useful to both first-time buyers and those seeking to upgrade or add to their fleet. Participants are encouraged to bring their questions about the process.

Through its Charity Boat Donations & Sales Program, CBMM accepts and sells boats year-round. Donations are tax-deductible and hassle-free, and sales directly support CBMM’s mission to explore and preserve the history, environment, and culture of the entire Chesapeake Bay region, and make this resource accessible to all.

Browse the current inventory at cbmm.org/boatdonationprogram or reach out via email ([email protected]) or phone (410-745-4992) to get more information about the program.

CBMM is also now accepting vehicle donations. Find more information about the Vehicle Donation Program at cbmm.org/vehicledonationprogram.

In the coming months, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is offering private river cruises aboard its historic floating fleet vessels to watch log canoe races on the Miles River.

These two-hour charters, scheduled for June 24 and 25, July 29 and 30, and Sept. 9, 10, 16 and 17, are being offered in place of the log canoe spectator cruises aboard Winnie Estelle, CBMM’s venerable passenger-carrying buyboat that is undergoing a refit in the Shipyard this year.

The cost is $375 per charter for up to six passengers, with a 20% discount for CBMM members. Registration for these cruises is set to open March 17 at bit.ly/LogCanoeCruises2023, with a two-week sign-up period exclusively for CBMM members before open registration begins March 31. There are a limited number of charters available, and all cruises are dependent on marine conditions.

To become a CBMM member and access early registration as well as the charter discount and all the other exclusive programming and benefits of membership, visit cbmm.org/membership or contact Membership Services Coordinator Debbie Ruzicka at 410-745-4991 or [email protected].

These cruises offer an up-close view of a unique Eastern Shore tradition. Races featuring Chesapeake Bay sailing log canoes are staples of the region with competitions held along the Chester, Miles, Choptank, and Tred Avon rivers.

With an iconic design featuring long masts and large sails, the log canoes keep upright as they accelerate to speeds of 10 knots or more, thanks to crew members climbing to the ends of 15-foot boards that hang off the side.

Amateur photographers, sailing aficionados, and wooden boat enthusiasts will all find something to enjoy on these action-packed charters led by an experienced captain and crew aboard a traditional Bay vessel in CBMM’s floating fleet.

With Winnie Estelle undergoing maintenance, CBMM will also be offering drop-in cruises aboard boats in its floating fleet, including Dory Boat, Volunteer, and Old Point, on Fridays, Saturday, Sundays, and select Mondays, beginning May 19.

These 45-minute Harbor Highlights Tours offer guests the opportunity to explore St. Michaels Harbor, including CBMM’s working waterfront, while learning the history of the port. The cost is $15 per passenger for CBMM members and $25 for non-members.

Passenger cruises aboard Winnie Estelle are expected to resume in 2024.

Looking to add to its network of 300+ community volunteers, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is set to host a Volunteer Fair on March 18 at Van Lennep Auditorium from 10-11:30am.

CBMM currently has a wide variety of volunteer roles available across its campus for people of all backgrounds, interests, and experience. Whether you love spreadsheets, a hammer in your hand, or performing for an audience, all skills are valued and add to the quality and number of programs that CBMM can provide to its community.

At the Volunteer Fair, interested individuals will have the opportunity to meet CBMM staff and current volunteers and learn more about how to get involved sharing their time and talent in support of CBMM’s mission of making the Chesapeake Bay available and accessible to all. Registration is available now at bit.ly/CBMMVolunteerFair2023.

CBMM relies on a strong team of volunteers to complement and enhance the work of its professional staff and encourages individuals to join other Chesapeake-minded people from around the region and follow their interests wherever they lead.

Benefits of volunteering at CBMM can include free membership, free festival entry, inside looks at new programs and exhibits, continuing education opportunities, social events, and more.

CBMM has public-facing volunteer opportunities for docents, interpreters and guest hosts who are enthusiastic about welcoming CBMM guests and helping them find their own personal connections to the Chesapeake, as well as behind-the-scenes roles supporting every area of the organization, both in its day-to-day operations and special events on campus.

A description of many of CBMM’s volunteer positions, including opportunities for teens and students, can be found at bit.ly/CBMMVolunteerRoles. All necessary training is provided for these roles, including opportunities for mentoring, guided instruction, on-the-job shadowing, and independent learning.

Interested volunteers should submit an application at bit.ly/CBMMVolunteerApplication to get started. For more information, contact [email protected].

Jenn Kuhn’s own introduction to the skills she teaches in the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s Women’s Woodworking Workshops came in her first days at boat-building school. Talk about a crash course.

Kuhn, now the Shipyard Education Programs Manager, first offered the class at CBMM in 2012 while an apprentice in the Shipyard, and over the past decade-plus, it’s provided her an enjoyable avenue for sharing her knowledge with dozens of women interested in learning more about the techniques and tools vital to her career.

“The goal in offering a course like this is to make everything a little bit more inclusive and accessible,” Kuhn said. “As a woman in the trades, it would’ve been awesome when I was going through high school if I could have taken shop class. It wasn’t even a consideration. This course is about offering the opportunity to learn.”

Kuhn will be teaching the introductory Women’s Woodworking Workshop again on March 11-12 in the Shipyard, guiding participants through the basics of buying lumber, making a cut list, and using a variety of power and hand tools to construct a wooden mallet. The course has reached capacity, but interested participants can sign up for the waitlist at bit.ly/WomensWoodworkingWaitlist.

On July 21-24, CBMM is hosting a four-day intermediate course in which participants will expand on the woodworking and joinery skills they’ve learned from the intro class to build a stool. The cost is $295, with a 20% discount for CBMM members, and all tools and materials are included. Registration is now available at bit.ly/JulyWomensWoodworking.

Kuhn models the Women’s Woodworking programming off a course she previously taught at the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle, and it’s been a consistent hit on the Eastern Shore offering participants the chance to immerse themselves in the sights and sounds of the Shipyard for a few days and come away with a completed project.

Ultimately, Kuhn’s goal with these courses is to provide a comfortable, welcoming, and safe environment for women to learn and work together, regardless of background or even future plans to use a table saw or the other power tools on the project list.

“As they say, knowledge is power,” Kuhn said. “Whether or not anybody ever goes on to do anything else with woodworking, it’s great to have that knowledge and understand how these skills can help you.”

Indeed, Brenda Fike arrived at the introductory course in 2021 with no experience since middle-school woodshop but eager to learn more.

Over two days, the Easton resident found Kuhn’s presentation informative and the atmosphere fun, with the project offering just the right level of challenge.

Fike’s mallet, with a head made of carefully-selected osage orange, hangs in her home workshop as a proud reminder of her work that weekend.

“I thought everything about it was great,” Fike said. “I knew nothing going in, and Jenn made it an experience that was totally educational, interesting, and fun for me.”

Jan Kirsh echoed that sentiment. The local sculptor and landscape designer was looking for a woodworking refresher while putting together a museum show, and she enjoyed a memorable weekend at CBMM in Kuhn’s course, working alongside a group of women who have stayed in touch and become friends. (The mallet that she made remains useful in her art studio, too.)

“Jenn is a great instructor,” Kirsh said. “Her high level of ability rubs off on her students. She has a real comfort in the shop that gives you a sense of how qualified she is, and she transfers that sense of confidence while you’re working with a piece of powerful woodworking equipment on your own.”

The mission of the Women’s Woodworking Workshops is personal for Kuhn, who still uses the first mallet that she ever made as one of her first projects at boat-building school in her day-to-day work. She makes sure to regularly include the courses on CBMM’s Apprentice for a Day programming schedule and also teaches them occasionally at the Finger Lakes Boating Museum in Upstate New York.

Now a seasoned boatbuilder, Kuhn always appreciates the chance to invite other women to the Shipyard and share her woodworking expertise.

“My hope is to help our participants feel more comfortable and less intimidated coming into an area where we weren’t always included,” Kuhn said. “Historically, most of the shop folks were men. Now that’s totally changing. We’re eons from that, which is awesome, but I know there are still a lot of women out there who wish that they would’ve had something like this growing up.”

Grigg Mullen is a noted timber framer who stays busy with a variety of projects, both big and small, on-going out of his home in Lexington, Va.

Sometimes, though, the retired college engineering professor heads to his woodshop simply to find peace and quiet.

“If I really want to go out in the shop and relax, I do hand-cut dovetails,” said Mullen, referencing the time-tested technique for joining wooden ends by interlocking them after making precise cuts. “They’re a lot of fun. They look wonderful, and they’re not actually that mystifying when you go to cut them. You’ve got to be careful and pay attention to detail, but they’re not impossible.”

Mullen will get a chance to share that traditional woodworking skill and other tips of the trade as part of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s upcoming Build Your Own Classic Sea Chest workshop.

Over the weekends of Feb. 25-26 and March 4-5, Mullen will lead participants in constructing a 16-inch-by-18-inch-by-36-inch 19^th-century sea chest. The building process focuses on using hand tools to create the beveled dovetail joined ends and sloping sides that give the pine chest its classic look.

The cost for the four-day workshop is $775, with a 20% discount for CBMM members, and includes materials. Some basic woodworking experience is required. Register now at bit.ly/CBMMSeaChest.

Mullen was inspired to build his first classic sea chest after seeing a seven-page spread in the September/October 2005 edition of WoodenBoat that outlined author Gary K. Larkins’ 24-step process for constructing one.

Mullen has built a few of these sea chests over the years. One he put up for charity auction and was bought by a former student and another he gave to his 2-year-old granddaughter.

Mullen is excited to finally teach the workshop at CBMM after a previously scheduled version was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

For participants, the takeaway is a unique conversation piece fit for land or sea.

By original design, the chest’s sloped sides helped it fit the curvature of a boat and provided a sturdy base for rough seas, but it’s easy to imagine a myriad of potential other uses. In resurrecting the classic build, the WoodenBoat article’s subtitle promised “sturdy utility from the 19^th century.”

Along the way to the finished product, Mullen will guide participants step-by-step. He said the precision required in the process, especially on the dovetails, presents a satisfying challenge for anyone looking to hone their woodworking skills.

“When you’re making dovetails, things can get complicated, but it’s not insurmountable,” Mullen said. “It takes careful layout, careful saw work and then careful chisel work to clean everything up before you fit it all together. It definitely takes patience.”