Man building his own boat finally reaches water

this morning an update to the story of Steve Dennett he is the Massachusetts man who for years has been trying to build his own 38-foot sailboat by hand using wood cut down from his own yard Brooke Silva Braga caught up with him again this week as the boat the Arabella finally reached the water you can see what really what we've been building wow I mean it looks like a boat it looks like a boat yeah and every stage of the process that's what people say ah it looks like a boat oh it finally looks like a boat oh now it looks like a boat when we first met him last fall Steve Dennett had already been working on the Arabella for nearly seven years so that guy's a white oak he had started cutting down trees on his family's property in January 2016. he had no experience boat building and no real source of funding he had never in his life even sailed on a boat and vowed he never would until it was the boat he'd built himself when we first started and I was like I'm gonna cut down the trees and build a boat and everyone's like you're crazy and then we would talk to people who are in their 70s their 80s they would go to it you have the stream go do it what are you waiting for because why do you think the difference in the generations I think they understand what a lifetime is and what you actually have the time for and what you're going to look back on and wish you had or hadn't done so Dennett began to do it he says he learned something new almost every day like how to steam Oak boards down she goes until they could be bent into their new shape you have a matter of minutes to get them bent into the boat before they Harden and become non-playable again but it quickly became clear he would not be able to build a boat himself for some reason there were just too many others interested in helping it's going to start coming down a little bit okay Aaron Wayans did whatever Dennett would let him he just finished fourth grade I'll try my hardest was supposed to be starting college but came to where here instead that's it this is a big step you dropped out of school I mean I def they won't let you defer I hadn't started yet Dennis was able to pay pauella and a few others once Acorn to Arabella caught on on YouTube earning ad money and crowdfunding donations from supporters across the world and what's everyone attracted to is he gonna do it he's totally gonna do it and I think at first people were like I'm attracted to watching this ship go down of pun intended but now they're attracted to like this wood came from those trees and then it will float or would it last Saturday more than a thousand people dodged raindrops in mattapois at Massachusetts to see the Arabella finally touched the ocean [Music] it works well you're surprised then this Tuesday seven years and five months after the first tree fell the Arabella and Steve were ready for the first sale of their lives pilela and a few other helpers got us out of the harbor Aaron dropped a fishing line in the Atlantic and Steve sat in the cockpit seemingly overwhelmed these have to be big feelings but you're not letting yourself feel them yet oh I'm feeling them I just I don't know yeah I don't really have words is this really truly the first day ever doing this going out on the boat like this yeah yeah yeah yeah you are filming the first time of me ever at the tiller oh come on you have to give me a better how this feels answer then oh my you're at the tiller literally for the first time come on it feels good share an emotion it feels good pretty surreal pretty surreal I believe that one emotion Steve clearly felt was gratitude we've literally had almost every demographic person you could think of come through the shop at one point or another the most staunch liberals the most staunch Republicans we've had gay people trans people non-binary people people of color we would not be here without the contribution of all of those different people and I think a lot of those people that come they realize that you know they got a lot more in common than they thought yeah why do you think people were connected in this Pursuit when we're divided and so many others I think fulfilling and chasing a dream is something that most people can relate to I think most people have dreams I think unfortunately a small portion of people actually work on them and are able to make them into reality this is still just the middle of Dennis dream now he and partner Robin Agricola are preparing to sail across the world just give pelella a year or two to teach them how to do it yeah but we just need to make sure we give that a good birth exactly yeah this new chapter means the end of the last one and that seemed to be hitting Steve too sadness of not working in the crew and The Boathouse doesn't exist anymore and you know that was seven years of my life I went up basically every day to go work in a Boathouse when The Boathouse came down and the Arabella left his yard Dennis gave a canoe and some of his tools to Aaron oh boy this is going to be really useful do you have any thoughts about what you might make with them my rocket-powered snowmobile that sounds like a big project yeah it's a fun one though from the deck of the Arabella it sounded possible okay so look at the people out with the sailboats and be like oh man that'd be amazing and now I'm one of the ones out there on Silva for CBS Saturday morning Brook Silva Braga off the coast Massachusetts I feel like we need more of that in the world hope dreams following accomplishments coming to inspiration yeah I mean and it's not just the dream completed for him it is it is the inspiration and when she talks about I'm going to build my rocket-powered snowmobile yeah go do it exactly right a way to pay those dreams forward yeah it's amazing

Channel: CBS News

Views: 169,962

Keywords: CBS Saturday Morning, CBS News, video, steve denette, handmade boat, boats, water

Id: C7fktY5F3_s

Length: 6min 22sec (382 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 24 2023