By Rick Winn

                                                    BYYB   Comodore Adam Plourde

     I was born April 20, 1969 in Providence, RI. Lived in Bristol, RI until we moved to Ashland, MA. Growing up I was the prototypical nerd, with my head buried in anything computer or electronics related. I had an engineer for a father, so I was encouraged. Athletically, though, I was a no-show. Except for snow skiing and swimming I did little more athletic than getting out of bed in the morning. Somehow, I managed to remain a stick figure (130lbs) despite my inactivity. I discovered an interest in airplanes and flying in high school but didn't have the finances to pursue it at that time. Half way through my senior year I grew tired of the whole "nerd" concept, and instead of applying for college, I head down to the Army Recruit station and enlisted as a Helicopter Mechanic/Crew Chief. Suddenly I was in a position where I had to get physically fit. In two months of basic training I went from 130 pounds to 165. While hardly an olympic qualifier, I was in the best shape of my life. And that improved over the next several months. My mind was sharper, my body was stronger, and I felt good. After training, I was stationed at Fort Carson, CO for the duration of my enlistment. No longer satisfied to sit around all day, I got certified in SCUBA diving (PADI), I got my pilots license, I started backpacking and rock climbing, and I generally exercised my adventurous spirit. My unit stayed safe and sound stateside during Desert Storm. But, in the end I found the forced discipline of the army tiring and left in September, 1991. A two week road trip to Oregon, and home to my fathers place in Nashua, NH, where I tried to start my life in the middle of a recession.
     Jobs where scarce, and I found the inactivity to be debilitating. After several months of mucking around the house collecting unemployment I headed to Kansas City to expand my knowledge of Turbine Engines to increase my prospects of getting an Airframe and Powerplant position. The school was decent (Trans World Technical Academy, a subdivision of TWA airlines); but instead of getting an A&P position, I ended up installing GTE airfones in airliners. Hard evening work. Not specially mind expanding; but still somehow satisfying.
     Eventually that work dried up and I bounced around on a few technical temporary jobs for a while before being picked up as a temporary contractor for GE Computer Services. It's funny how things work, sometimes. My two week temporary position turned into two months, then longer. My department got purchased by Technology Service Solutions, a joint venture between IBM and Kodak. I ended up pulling networking and telephone cable, and installing satellite dishes. Eventually I was put into a lead tech position, and later a management position in Chicago.
      After a time IBM bought out Kodak. Shortly thereafter, my TSS department was determined to be unprofitable and over several months shut down. And just as I was about to start handing out resumes, I got picked up by another department of TSS to complete a couple of legacy projects. As is typical of my career, I just never left. I returned to the PC that I was so fond of in High School. I still had the mindset and it was not very long before I was able to get up to speed on all the new technologies that have come around since the 1980's. I have been absorbed into IBM, now. Projects include hardware, software, and networking activities.
     In addition to my formal job activity, a couple of years ago I started a small web company with a couple of partners called Creative Design Interactive. While we made some money, getting the contracts, building the pages, and trying to get the clients to pay was just too much on top of a full time job, so CDI was quietly discontinued.
     Now I live in Attleboro, Massachusetts and work in Braintree, Massachusetts supporting the staff of a large hotel chain. I rent a garage (really a barn) with several friends in Taunton, MA. My typical day starts by heading into work at 7am, heading to the garage to work on the boat by 6pm, and heading home about midnight.
     Obviously, I run the BYYB BBS, and I was on the organizing committee of the BYYB and am now the Fleet Commodore. To tell the truth, I'm somewhat at a loss about the whole Commodore business. We only have a few completed boats, and no local fleets organized yet. That doesn't leave me much to do, so far, which is a good thing as I now have the opportunity to finish my boat.
     Soon quite a lot of Weekenders, Vacationers and Pocket Cruisers will be launched, and I have hopes that some fleets will start coming together. We've had nibbles from Florida and Texas which I am starting to pursue.
     I foresee this first year being an organizational year. Probably very few (if any) formal racing and regattas. It is my intention, though, to see a number of get togethers and casual cruises come together. The ScuzzBums of California call these Messabouts, and I'm hard pressed to think of a better name. If we can build some camaraderie this first year, the rest should come easy.

     What first interested me in sailing:

     I first started sailing almost before I can remember. My grandfather had an old wooden Sunfish sailboat that my father used to take me out on. As soon as I was big enough to right a flipped Sunfish on my own I was allowed to solo. Until I joined the Army this was the only boat I had ever sailed.
     I got invited on a cruise in a 35', very heavy displacement cutter (a Willard). We cruised Block Island, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and ended up in Newport where we watched the Newport Folk Festival. I was hooked on cruising.
     In recent times I've done some Hobie Cat Sailing, and I've taken out a friends Sunfish on occasion. But the desire to cruise has been building with me for a while. I originally wanted a huge sailboat with all the amenities; but practicality took over and I started thinking minimalist. Every time I revised what I wanted in a boat, I revised it downwards. The minute I saw the Weekender I was hooked. Here was a boat with the looks I wanted, with a basic camping style cabin to allow some minimalist cruising.
     I have some fairly high ambitions for Fandango. I plan on taking this to some of the near off shore islands of Massachusetts and Rhode Island including Martha's Vineyard, among others. I also plan on taking it on some week or longer cruises. Some may cry that this is pushing such a little boat too far; but I suspect they are few among our members. I've noticed that the BYYB membership tends to be more adventurous than the average person. Even more adventurous, even, than the average sailor. I suppose you have to be to take on the project of actually building a boat, rather than the more expedient method of purchasing a new or used one. If you are willing to forgo some of the comforts that are now expected and commonplace, a whole new world opens up.
     The future holds a larger boat, probably around twenty five to thirty feet, that I have plans of taking much further afield than the Weekender is capable of. But I'm in no rush. There is an awful lot of stuff to see around here, first.

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