Russ Sylvester
                                                           By Bruce S Kershaw

     Russ was the first, and is so far the only fellow BYYB member I have had the pleasure to meet face to face. He is also a fellow Floridian, but from "the other coast".
     When we realized we were both at about the same stage of construction, (Russ has since passed me by.) and both still needed to purchase our glassing supplies, we arranged to meet at Raka, in Delray Beach, about a two hour drive for each of us, but from different directions. We made our purchases, then headed across the street to a sandwich shop, where we had a nice chat before heading home.
     Russ lives in Melbourne, Florida along with his wife of sixteen years, Marilyn, and his daughter Jessica, who is eight.
     He works for Collins Avionics, a division of Rockwell International. He’s been with them for about nineteen years, and is on a team that designs navigation and landing systems for commercial and private airplanes.
     Melbourne is on the eastern coast of central Florida, about forty miles south of Cape Kennedy, where he says they have a spectacular view of shuttle and satellite launches. We also talked about the sonic booms the shuttles make when landing. Being further away, and only if the weather is clear, all I get to see is a puff of smoke. I’ve only heard the boom once.
     Between Melbourne and the Atlantic is the Inter-coastal Waterway. This is where Russ plans on doing the vast majority of his sailing. The ICW runs north and south along the Florida east coast, for about as far as you’d care to go. It is about a mile and a half wide, where it passes through the Melbourne area. He does plan on taking his Weekender out on the ocean, but only after extensive trials.
     When asked how he got into sailing, Russ said, "Because of the area, it is just about guaranteed that there is at least one sailboat race every weekend. I’ve found that it is really easy to get signed on as crew, which is exactly how I got started in sailing many years ago. Over the years, I think I’ve crewed on just about every kind of boat there is, but never as skipper until I bought a Sunfish at a garage sale, for ten bucks. I spent most of a winter refurbishing it. I raced it for a couple of summers and even won, now and then, but I ended up selling it to pay for our diving lessons." By this point he says, the sailing bug had really sunk it’s teeth in.
     Around the end of last September, the sailing season was about over, and Russ was tired of crewing for someone else. He wanted to skipper his own boat again, and he had always wanted to build one. With a few web searches, and allot of reading, he came upon Stevenson Projects.
     The three things that drew Russ to the Weekender were it’s really good looks, promised ease of construction, and low cost.
     Russ claims to be the guy Tim, the tool man, Taylor was created from. He even has two "Binford Tools" hats. He says Norm Abrams just made him sick with frustration since he would never be that good, or have a workshop like that. Now he says, "Getting this far is somewhat of a miracle. Even my wife, who wasn’t too sure I could pull this off, is starting to cheer me on. That, or she just wants the garage back."
     Because of the size of his garage, Russ’ next boat ("Yes there will be a next boat, just don’t tell my wife.") will have to built somewhere else. He’s hoping to go to WoodenBoat School up in Maine, later this year or early next year. He is thinking he would like to try his hand at building a "traditional" boat.
     "One of the benefits of building the Weekender," says Russ, "has been the association. I want to thank all of the guys who put allot of effort into making it a reality. I am convinced that I couldn’t have built this boat if it hadn’t been for the BYYB. My personal goal is to continue to be a member, and hopefully re-pay the help and support that I received, to someone else who is just getting started. It’s amazing. When I first started this whole adventure, I was scared to death that I wouldn’t be able to do this. I think that because of the great design of the Weekender, and the BYYB, I’m actually going to finish this thing and get it in the water."
     I have to agree with everything Russ says about the BYYB. Without it and the BBS, I would be missing out on all the knowledge and information that is helping me to build my boat. I also never would have learned that Russ and all the other builders in Florida, who haven’t joined up yet, were out there.
     So keep watching. Soon you’ll be hearing about the "Florida Privateers" fleet, and all the fun we’re having!
     Oh, and Russ... That thing about getting the wife to go along with buying a big boat and living aboard... Let’s keep in touch and compare notes about that one. Maybe between the two of us, we can figure out how to convince them.