This magnificent collection of full-color photographs by renowned photographer Benjamin Mendlowitz of beautiful vessels includes wooden boats ranging from simple prams to sailing and power yachts. Noted marine historian Maynard Bray provides commentary on more than 90 of the world's most photogenic boats.

"The Thousand Islands' very name conjures up images of great natural beauty and nautical wonders. They are forested islands replete with storybook stone castles. Exquisite mahogany runabouts can be seen speeding across the placid surface of the mighty St. Lawrence. Names like Boldt, Bourne, Emery, Lyon, and Pullman are embedded in the Golden Age of the area, and it all comes to life in this pictorial history of the river. Images of America: Wooden Boats of the St. Lawrence River tells the story of the rich and powerful men who constructed castles and built classic wooden boats in the Thousand Islands. At the center of the story loom David and Charlie Lyon. A descendant of the Lyon family, David Kunz, tells this story through historical photographs. David is the great-great-nephew of Charles Potter Lyon and Helen Griffin Lyon. Bill Simpson, whose first visit to the Thousand Islands was in the fall of 1976, is a novelist and publisher of Simpson Books. The majority of the photographs in this book are from the Lyon Archives on Oak Island"--

David C. "Bud" McIntosh was a designer, builder, and sailor of large and small wooden cruising boats for more than 50 years, and wrote about it for over 10 of those years. He made his home on New Hampshire's Piscataqua River, where he was teacher and friend to both amateur and professional boatbuilders.

A celebration of the work of popular wooden boat designer Iain Oughtred with colour photography showcasing the beauty of the boats as well as the Scottish landscape where he is based.

As a child, John Brooks loved to build models and sail with his grandfather. When most teenagers were at the prom, John was changing jibs in the Indian Ocean, halfway through a 35,000-mile, two-year cruise. He began building boats in commercial yards at 19, while studying boat design and building his own boats. John worked for many years honing his craftsmanship on fine yachts, small boats, custom furniture, and a harpsichord. He has been a instructor at the WoodenBoat School in Maine since the mid-1990s, teaching glued-lapstrake boatbuilding, fine interior joinery, and carving. Ruth Ann Hill grew up on the coast of Maine. A writer, boatbuilding assistant, naturalist, and graphic artist, Ruth is the author of Discovering Old Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park: An Unconventional Guide and a contributing editor for Maine Boats & Harbors magazine. John and Ruth started their business, Brooks Boats, in 1991. They design and build glued-lapstrake boats in West Brooklin, Maine-and get out to enjoy their handiwork in its proper element whenever they can.

The beauty of this book is that the construction bugs have already been worked out of the designs. Plans, step-by-step instructions, material lists photographs and detailed diagrams.

Exploring the world's mystery from the deck of an ocean-going sailboat propelled by the wind and your own wits and skills, is the most magnificent of personal accomplishments. Amateur ocean sailing developed during the first half of the 20th century and reached its peak during the two decades after WWII. Then, mass produced and marketed boats subtly undercut the bond between the sailor and his boat. The sport lost its meaning. Wooden Boats for Blue Water Sailors explores the quiet counter-revolution to mass production boat-enabled by cold-molding and the epoxy bonding of wood--which has presented an opportunity for sailors to re-bond with their craft.Wooden Boats for Blue Water Sailors begins with a history of ocean sailing. Then it uses the sciences of material and structure to demonstrate the superiority of wood as a boat building material. It climaxes with the description of a new way for building an epoxy bonded wood boat that will last the next generation to use. An afterword describes use of the new technique to restore to life traditionally built wood boats that are failing, yet too precious to abandon. For sailors, Wooden Boats for Blue Water Sailors is a celebration of the wits and skills they exercise to sail upon the sea. For builders, Wooden Boats for Blue Water Sailors offers new techniques for economically building ocean going boats. For designers, Wooden Boats for Blue Water Sailors offers history to inspire them to remember, reflect and refine the requirements of the sea overlooked in the rush to modernity. For the craftsman, by itself, a short appendix concerning use of the tape measure will earn the cost of the book.Wooden Boats for Blue Water Sailors will delight and inform the sailor, boat builder, yacht designer and bring joy to those who love beautiful sailboats.