August 12, 2026
Every year, people travel from all over the world to share their wooden boat stories at our Festival. This year, two of those stories happen to come from opposite corners of the globe.
From Brazil: In the Bay of All Saints, colorful cargo sailboats called saveiros de vela once connected entire coastal communities, carrying goods, people, and news from town to town. Today, only about 20 are still working the water.
A new collaboration between Projeto Içar, BRANA, and Brazil’s master shipwrights is fighting to change that, creating real economic opportunity so the tradition, and the families who’ve carried it for generations, can keep going.
The story is fascinating in part because so much of this knowledge has never been written down. The plans are memorized and passed down through generations. Many of the shipbuilders learned their craft outside of formal education, through years of working alongside other builders. Today, that living knowledge can be difficult to fit into modern systems of certification, which often rely on written plans and formal credentials.
Come hear Alison Glassie share the passion of the people working to meet those challenges while keeping this remarkable tradition alive.
From The Bahamas: Handbuilt wooden sloops are still racing across island waters today, not as museum pieces, but as living competition. Bahamian sloop sailing blends craftsmanship, fierce local pride, and generational knowledge. Regattas bring rivalries and communities together on the water, with traditions that have been passed down through generations.
Michael Pateman’s talk draws on archival research, oral histories, and firsthand documentation of regattas throughout the islands to show how these boats carry culture forward, race by race.
These stories are a reminder that preserving wooden boats is about much more than keeping the boats themselves afloat. It is about preserving the knowledge of the people who build and sail them, creating opportunities for that knowledge to be passed on, and making sure traditional skills have a place in the future.
That is one of the things I love about the Wooden Boat Festival. We get to bring these stories into the same place and give all of us a chance to listen, learn, and connect with people who are working every day to keep maritime traditions alive. A continued reminder to build it, sail it, and don’t let it disappear.
Come hear both stories at this year’s Festival.
Barb, Festival Director
Saveiros de Vela: Preservation and Revival in Brazil
Alison Glassie
Sunday, 12:30 PM | Technical Stage
Wooden Boats, Regattas, the Living Maritime Heritage of the Bahamas
Michael Pateman
Friday, 11:00–11:45 AM | Innovation Stage
