Tell us about yourself Kevin.
     I was born July 19, 1968 in Arlington Texas. I grew up in Euless Texas, in between Dallas and Ft Worth. I’ve always been a creative person. Growing up Lego was my best friend. I think I’ve made just about everything you can think of out of Lego. I was also a dreamer, so building something from nothing held strong romanticisms for me, especially building something from scrap materials, or just materials that were not thought of as building materials. Once when I was about eleven I got a scroll saw for Christmas, and some pieces of cardboard to make practice cuts on. Of course they wrapped the cardboard separately as a joke gift. To their surprise I opened it up and loved it. All those big, straight, uncrinkled pieces were great for building all sorts of stuff. Needless to say, I really liked the saw too.
     I finally got a taste of what it was like to live somewhere else when I joined the Army at age 19. I was on my own for the first time. I spent 4 years in the Army on an M1-A1 Tank. All in all it worked out a lot like a movie. I trained and trained for 3 years and then went to Dessert Storm for the big finale, and got to put all that training to use. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything, but I would sure never do it again.
     Even in the Army, my creativity led the way. I was always being chosen to come up with company signs and things like that. In the desert, sitting in one spot in the middle of nowhere for 4 ½ months, my creativity saved me from insanity. During the course of this boredom I made a cardboard fireplace and cardboard and paper full size Christmas tree for decoration. I also put together some tables from broken down camel barns and made a barbecue pit out of rocks with sand and water for mortar.
     After the Army I got a job in the mailroom at Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems. Again my creativity led the way. Working on the mail machines was an easy task and I moved up to a supervisor position. Then I went to the Computer Operations side where I had time to play with a PC for the first time. After exploring the PC and accomplishing some interesting things with some drawings, my boss asked if I knew how to use some facility software he had. I told him "I’ll give it a shot." Not knowing I had just spoken my whole career motto. I figured out the facility software, and that grew into the Facilities Coordinator position. Basically I was in charge of keeping up the entire building. I learned about all the generators and backup power, fire alarm systems, security and a lot of other neat stuff. I went from there to the big Downtown Dallas data center and a Systems Engineer position. Then Mobile Systems and Southwestern Bell Telephone merged and my group became SBC Services. So eight years with the company, and I’m not complaining.

     What first interested you in sailing.
     I’m not sure where I got the sailing bug, because no one in my family sails. I think I’ve just always liked the way the sails looked and the romanticism behind it. When I actually sailed a boat for the first time I was 16 and went out with a friend on his Sunfish. When I actually felt the power of the wind tugging on the mainsheet and the boat lunging forward I was absolutely hooked.

     What boats have you owned and what is your sailing experience.
     After that first sailing experience I came across an old 12’ Snark that needed a sail, rudder, and dagger board. I cut up an old car cover to make a sail, and made the rudder and dagger board from plywood. (of course). I kept that thing for about 5 years, until it finally just fell apart. The whole hull fit into the garbage can.
     Then one year I made the Stevenson’s Winged Dinghy out of cardboard for a local cardboard boat race. The sail plan was slightly different that of the Stevenson’s, but it sailed really nice for about 3 days and then just couldn’t hold its water any more.
     My next boat was an 18’ Buccaneer that I kept for about 4 years. It was a blast to sail and was my first experience with a forward sail. I also had a spinnaker for it but only flew it once or twice since I was by myself most of the time. I entered one race with the Buccaneer and lost the forestay about 20 seconds after the gun. I saw some other Bucs go over but I never did turtle mine. I traded the Buccaneer in for an ’87 Hunter 23’, my first boat with a cabin. It was great, all that room inside and up on deck, and still I mostly sailed it by myself.
     I never had any formal sailing instruction, all I know I discovered for myself and later on found out there was a name for it.

     Why did you become interested in building your own boat.
     It was inevitable. I don’t know of anything else that can combine the creativity of building something yourself and the romance of sailing, except maybe building your own plane……….hmmm.

     Why did you choose a Stevenson’s project boat.
     The first time I saw the Stevensons name was in Popular science when the Winged Dinghy was featured. I thought it would be a great boat to build and finally get rid of the Snark. I ordered the plans and with them came the little brochure that listed the three Pocket Yachts. I loved the Weekender right off and ordered those plans as well. Then I started thinking I might like the bigger boat so I ordered the Vacationer plans. Since I didn’t have a place to build them I held onto the plans and was determined to one day be able to build one of these boats. Along the way I looked into other plans that might be cheaper or easier to build but always ran into more expensive and much less attractive plans. As I can see from all the response today on the BYYB, I made a really good choice.

     Why, in light of your experience working with a Stevenson’s project, should others choose a Weekender, Vacationer, Pocket Cruiser for a first boat project.
     It's as simple as 1, 2, 3, Less expensive, more attractive, with simple instructions.

     What are your thoughts on being a part of the BYYB
     I couldn’t be happier to be in on the beginning of something that has taken off so well. All those times of sailing by myself feel long gone now that I know there are others with the same dream I have. The BYYB is an invaluable source for help while building, and to me, being able to sail with others who are just as proud of their creation as I am make the value of the boat go way up.