The Old Man and the Boats: A Braslav Resident Builds Unique Vessels

Nikolai Yurkevich from Braslav has been preserving the tradition of wooden boat building for three decades.

"Where do they make boats here?" The very first person I met on the outskirts of Braslav, near the lake, not only understood what I was talking about but also unerringly pointed to a specific yard. Boards and piles of shavings are near the house; on special sawhorses, there is a structure resembling a fish skeleton, over which the Master is bent. He is conjuring with a spirit level, an axe, and a plane, and I have the opportunity to see with my own eyes how the "skeleton" turns into a vessel fit to sail on high waters.

I did not call Nikolai Yurkevich a master with a capital M for nothing: this man has been building boats for 35 years – large and small, "workhorses" for fishermen and elegant vessels for the most demanding and picky customers. How many boats have come from his skilled hands? He lost count long ago, but more than a third of all the watercraft currently moored on the waves of the suburban Lake Drivyaty (and there are hundreds of them) are his work. "And how many have already sunk to the bottom, covered in silt!" Nikolai Pavlovich just waves his hand.

From "Cabin Boy" to "Captain"

We are each busy with our own tasks. I ask questions, and Nikolai Pavlovich answers slowly, not pausing his work for a second. Only occasionally does he stroke his gray beard or push a strand of hair from his forehead, adjusting his cap.

— When did this passion begin? From the sea, I think. This is how it was for me: studies, work, army, and then I went to sea. Five years on the waves: Africa, Canada, America, Cuba. The main thing was ships! I was very interested in them, studied them in my free time. I remember I always wondered: how does this piece of metal not sink, not capsize? I started noticing: ribs, braces, planking, ballast – everything must be in its place, have a specific shape, and support each other...

After a long voyage, the Master returned to Braslav, where he grew up: he moved to this city with his parents in childhood, back in 1950. But he did not forget about water. And how could he, if there are large lakes all around, the largest, Drivyaty, is visible right from the window of his house? And where there is water, there are ships. Perhaps not as large as at sea, but also obedient to all "water" laws of physics. It is not surprising that the curious guy asked to be apprenticed to a team of carpenters who were building boats. Moreover, the knowledge gained during his voyages was very useful here.

— The older guys called me a greenhorn back then, — the Master chuckles, and the plane seems to "walk" on its own along the bottom of the future boat, producing a long golden shaving. Nikolai Pavlovich bends down, looks critically along the hull of the vessel, and runs his hand over it. — "Oh, greenhorn, what do you know!" That's what the old men told me. At first, until I started making them sensible remarks.

The vessel, the shape of which is being outlined before my eyes, is being made by the Master by order of the National Park "Braslav Lakes". It is intended for a team that conducts commercial fishing. According to Nikolai Pavlovich, he is building a boat on which one can dance without fear of capsizing. Or load several hundred kilograms of nets and safely transport them to the middle of the lake in the strongest wind and waves.

The Master is confident that the boat will turn out exactly like this – long gone are the days when he made mistakes.

A canoe that cannot be faked

Today, the Master has developed his own style. Like any specialist in his field, he jealously guards his secrets and is ready to pass them on only to apprentices if he is sure that they will continue his life's work. There are none yet, and this causes bitterness in the elderly man: there are very few good masters in the "carpentry-water" craft left.

But are they needed at all? After all, modern technologies have made it possible to produce more practical boats, look how many there are on the markets and in stores — aluminum, inflatable, plastic. However, as it turned out, "wooden ones" remain in favor with knowledgeable people. Yes, a wooden boat is heavy, relatively short-lived, and bulky. But it remains the most reliable and quiet — it doesn't ring, it doesn't knock. This quality is especially valued by hunters and fishermen, whose numbers are growing every year.

According to Nikolai Pavlovich, his main secret is the special proportions of the boats, which have been determined through empirical methods over decades.

— How can they be kept secret? After all, it's enough to take measurements from a boat of your production. An ordinary tape measure, ruler, and caliper — that's all the "picks" to the secret...

It turned out to be a dilettante's question.

— You can take measurements. But will your copy float, or will it fall on its side right from the shore? — the Master's gaze is amused, with a sly twinkle. He approaches a pile of boards. — Good boards, right? Straight, without knots. But in fact, this is a defect, you can't work with them. Do you know why? But I know...

Special wood for a special vessel

Nikolai Pavlovich himself takes four to five days to build a large fishing boat. Whether this is a lot or a little, he cannot assess, he only says that he often has to waste time searching for normal building materials.

— The tools have been collected for years, adjusted for myself. My hands, as they say, remember. My eyes don't fail yet. But the wood nowadays can be such that you'll cry! — the Master shares his thoughts. — As soon as you start to bend a board, it cracks in half, either across or along.

The old man has long determined for himself what quality building material should be. Many believe that the best wood is spruce. It is denser and more resinous, and therefore more durable. However, the Master prefers pine.

— Spruce is resilient and elastic, yes. But it's also brittle! Sometimes you just mark a nail into a board, and it goes crack! and splits along. I've seen plenty of that. You could make a spruce boat, if you tried. But I feel sorry for people who might end up headfirst – into the water. Pine doesn't fuss as much. But not just any pine will do. I respect the slabwood (the outermost boards when sawing timber — Author's note), you can't beat it.

Quality Mark

The navigation season is drawing to a close, which means a long break from work awaits the Master. However, it turns out the old man won't be bored in winter. He already has several orders for next year. Those who wish to acquire a good boat are bringing building materials, discussing the type of future vessel with the Master. And sometimes, truly unique orders come along.

— It's been a long time since anyone came up and pointed: "I want a boat just like this!". Now everyone wants their vessel to be special, unusual, recognizable, — Nikolai Pavlovich sat down, resting his hands. But his eyes continued to examine the boat's frame on the trestles. The old man assessed the work, contemplating the next stage – planking the "skeleton". Every now and then, he would glance at the prepared boards, as if evaluating their quality. — About five years ago, they contacted me from the Miory district. They needed a boat capable of holding and towing a fishing net. It turned out to be almost a barge – the widest and longest in my memory. Seven and a half meters! I had to rack my brains. Also, a former military commissar once asked me to make a skiff. He brought drawings, pictures. I made it! Maybe it's still sailing somewhere, who knows. I have boats near Minsk, and even in the Moscow region.

If work stalls during the deep winter season, for example, during frosts, Nikolai Pavlovich will find something to do – leisurely preparing elite building materials. The boat builder has long noticed: the highest quality wood is felled in winter, when the resin in the tree "stands," and the wood itself is reliably bound by frost. In his breaks, he indulves in his favorite pastime: fishing.

— I'll go fishing with the guys! We'll catch bait on the ice first, then set up "flags," and sit on the shore catching pike, — the boatman livened up, reminiscing about fishing. It's clear that this activity is his passion. It's even more surprising that the Master doesn't have his own boat. Or rather, there's a vessel by the shore, not far from his house, which turned... eleven years old this year. The planks have long since dried out from age and don't hold water. It's time to build a replacement for the "old lady." But Nikolai Pavlovich just can't seem to get around to it.

— This season, my friends and I started building our own boat three times, — the Master recalls. — But people kept coming and asking us to give them the boat. We even used the worst materials, just to make it last a couple of years, and still, they begged us for a boat.

Be that as it may, Nikolai Pavlovich's work continues. Every time he sees his vessel on the lake waves, he understands that he is not living in vain. The old man recognizes his boat thanks to a trademark left on each watercraft: a special nail driven into the bottom that fastens the planks in a certain strategic place. The nail cannot be removed, so its head shines as an identifying mark.

Sergey Muravsky, "Narodnaya Gazeta"