Behind the story- Rick’s Profile

Rick Myers illustrates his ancillary woodworking skills.

“Schooning” by Will Kutscher.

How I happened to profile artist 'Rick Myers'

Eight years or so ago at a late afternoon in Ballard's Canal Boatyard, I met the skipper of the fishing vessel Mr. Fox. Tyone wore a diamond in his tooth and lived mostly on a shit-hot red hulled racing sailboat called the Age of Russia. The rest of the time, he lived on an island when he wasn't fishing. We kept in intermittent contact over the years, and three years ago, I called him up and asked him for a job. He didn't have one for me that season but hosted me the weekend and introduced me to Will—a young man who crewed for him a few years.

That fall, Captain Morgan, another out of the blue acquaintance I'd met at a boat show years ago, reached out. She asked if I was free to help her sail a boat down the coast. That sounded swell, but I needed more of a job than an adventure and asked her if it paid. "We don't really pay people to sail this boat," she said and sent me a picture, and the Long John Silver in me stepped out of my heart, slapped me across the face and told me to grab my bowlines, and go to sea.    

Will, really just an acquaintance up until that point with a shared, called to grab a drink. I began to brag about my upcoming schooner adventure and quickly coined the term "schooning" a verb. "Do they need a photographer?" he asked. They did. So, led by the intrepid Captain Morgan, and her father, the indomitable Captain Art, Will, and I joined a lovable group of misfits on the schooner, Dirigo II.

Will's photography eventually took him to the Filson clothing company. He needed a writer to profile this artist named Rick Myers in Port Townsend, and I was the guy he called. Rick was a real pleasure with a quiet, studious passion I identified with and hoped to capture in my profile. I also admired his workshops combination of computer-aided drawing and woodworking tools. The interview was a congenial experience. The moment I liked most was when he began to share his wife, Kristin's musical talent, and did so with such loving pride that it stuck with me long after I turned in my copy of his profile.

When the pandemic hit, I decided to respond with a music project called tinyboatsessions. Rick called me up on and asked if I was still looking for more artists. By then, I was on 'Season 2' of this little project and was still looking for more artists. Between him and Kristin, I got introduced to three other amazing musicians and captured over a dozen beautiful songs on the Victorian waterfront of Port Townsend that I'm sharing @tinyboatsession