(From left) Senior Jack Venezia, sophomore Zane Brownstone, and seniors Nick Di Pasqua and Zack Brownstone stand above their vessel after a successful launch.
When his barn was taken down this summer, senior Zack Brownstone had an idea. Instead of throwing the extra wood away, he decided to build a boat. That night, he called his friends to get their help, and soon around nine seniors were involved in this passion project.
“I started with a blueprint,” Brownstone said. “Except putting that exact blueprint into action didn’t really work, so we just kind of had to go along with it and make adjustments on the fly.”
During the process, they had to adapt to many challenges.
“The first time we put the boards together, we sprayed it with water and we noticed that a major leak started, so we had to take that apart and put it back together,” senior Gabe Ruffinelli said. “We also ran into the issue of the boat not fitting into the car, so we had to take it apart and trim it down.”
They set a launch date for Sep. 16, at Miller Boat Launch, but the boat never made it into the water. Upon arriving at the launch point, they realized the area was too crowded to launch the boat.
“The dock was packed with people,” senior Hayden Blair said. “People in canoes, people in actual boats; it was not the right place to launch.”
After compromising on going to Black Point instead, the group gave up and drove back home.
“We all just accepted that the launch day was a failure and went back to Zack’s place,” Blair said.
Despite their misfortune, the group continued and planned a second launch.
“About three weeks later, we all packed up and went to Black Point,” senior Nick Di Pasqua said. “We put [the boat] in the water and tied it to the dock. Zack got on it and it was perfectly fine and floating.”
After months of work, the group was overjoyed to finally see it functioning.
“When it finally worked, I was on top of the world,” Brownstone said. “It felt so amazing to see something that I had put so much time and effort into finally working out.”
Senior Samara Briones helped build, plan the boat, and motivate the team. She shares how impressed she was when she saw Brownstone, her boyfriend, achieve his goal.
“We thought it was just something he was going to talk about, but then he actually went through with it,” Briones said. “It was nice to see that the boat was actually able to float and he was able to achieve his goal.”
“A lot of people didn’t think it was going to work and thought I was crazy.”
– Zack Brownstone
Senior
Most of his friends, teachers, and family were not optimistic that the boat would work, so Brownstone felt a lot of pride at the successful launch.
“It was definitely a highlight when the boat worked and I proved everyone wrong,” Brownstone said. “A lot of people didn’t think it was going to work and thought I was crazy. Having it float and having a great time with my friends was all worth it.”
Looking into the future, Brownstone hopes to continue to improve the boat and launch it again after adjustments.
“I definitely want to add a mast and a sail to the boat, as well as a rudder,” Brownstone said. “I want to be able to use it as a sailboat. Our senior capstone project is probably also going to be building another boat or some other boat-related project.”
