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Sunday, August 10, 2003
The story of Scheherazade
Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||||||||||||||
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EAST BOOTHBAY - In the tale of the Arabian nights, Scheherazade married King Shahryar and survived like no other queen because of her boldness, kindness and cunning. According to the tale, the jealous king killed his previous wives because he feared they would be untrue, each time marrying them and killing them after one night. This went on for years. When King Shahryar married Scheherazade, however, she began a nighttime tale that she spun into 1,001 nights of storytelling, leaving the king so spellbound, he spared her. The same kind of drama and adventure is expressed in the 154-foot, 7-inch ketch yacht being built in East Boothbay Harbor. On Sept. 27 Scheherazade, the biggest yacht currently being built in the Western Hemisphere, will be launched from Hodgdon Yachts on the coast of Maine. Scheherazade has been four years in the making and costs more than $20 million, according to Hodgdon Yacht spokesman Ted Smith, who would not name Scheherazade's owner or quote the exact cost of the super yacht. While no one at Hodgdon Yacht will say how much Scheherazade costs, Smith said there are very few ships in the world being built to her scale. "It's 8 inches shorter than a 757 (airliner)," he said. In the super yacht business, Smith said, many boats are built for the thrill then quickly sold. Scheherazade, he said, is expected to stay connected to Maine through her owner, who has Maine ties. "The average ownership over 80 feet is three years," Smith said. "Our client is not like that." Tim Hodgdon, owner of Hodgdon Yachts, said Scheherazade is expected to visit international waters. Appropriately, her parts and the planning that went into her came from boat-building companies from around the world, in countries such as Holland, Germany and Canada. Her two masts from New Zealand reach 185 feet and 110 feet high, putting the taller of the two at about 11 stories high, Smith said. The interior of the ship was designed by Andrew Wench Design of London, a company that has won awards from the super yacht industry. The hydraulics, the climate and the music and entertainment systems all are connected through one integrated bridge system created in Holland, and controlled on one computer screen. "In the end, there are 17 touch screens on the boat. And they appear on a flat screen. Other boats are headed that way," Smith said. The anchor works on a retractable arm that lifts over the bow and folds back into the ship. However, Hodgdon said Scheherazade is not only a world-class project with influences from around the globe, she is complemented by local craftsmen who come from a coastal area that is historically known for its boat building. "It's important for the community. We're close to providing 100 jobs at our peak level," Hodgdon said. Bruce King Yacht Design of Newcastle designed Scheherazade. The hull was created at Hodgdon Yacht in East Boothbay, as were the wood carvings and joinery that make the massive ship a floating museum. The skill of its craftsmen is a signature of Hodgdon Yacht, but that skill was supported by the owner and designer, Smith said. Hodgdon said there are more than 500 hand carvings throughout the ship. Originally, Smith said, there were fewer, but as the boat was being built, more were added. Now it's hard to walk a few feet through the ship's interior without seeing an unusual shell, a raised medallion, or a subtle but deeply carved door handle. The rotunda is one of the more amazing features of the boat. The circular hallway is surrounded by four doorways accented with dramatic carvings. The harlequin panels elsewhere on the yacht are made from fiddleback sycamore and create an unusual shimmer when light flashes off the wood, creating a visual ripple effect. Greg Rollins, one of three carvers on the ship, said the project has been all about taking time and, in that regard, it's been an unusual project. "If she only raises the expectation of other boat builders, of what they have to do, that's fine," Rollins said. "The Old World craftsmen used to exist. That's nonexistent today." Rollins grew up on Monhegan Island, surrounded by artists and art. He said Scheherazade has been the perfect workshop to perfect his craft, and the proper place to display some of the finest carvings he has seen. "Sometimes I would take a block of wood, and the next time I looked down, it would be a shell. I don't know where my mind went. I couldn't tell you," said Rollins who carved dozens of shells from blocks of wood. "It wasn't boring. There was a certain repetitiveness to it, but it was almost meditation." No two shells on the boat look the same. The same is true of the dozens of strands of sea grass that were carved for corners and cabinets, Rollins said. Rollins said any one of the roughly 300 shells throughout Scheherazade could take as much as 10 hours for him or fellow carvers Peter Libby and Chip Hagget to carve. "There are different spikes and peaks in different places. But every shell is uniquely different in nature," Rollins said. "Peter Libby is the master carver. Our job is to duplicate his vision of what the shells should be. As secondary carvers, we're striving to accomplish his carvings." The shape of the hardware, the shape of the wood, the grain manipulation of the wood and the symmetry between opposite walls is the kind of detail the artist appreciates. "It's just little gifts of attention to detail," Rollins said. "The more you look at the boat, the more you see. You really have to spend a lifetime with the boat to see all the details that have gone into it, the details of craftsmanship." In many ways, Scheherazade changed the company. Hodgdon Yacht moved to its current boat yard on School Street in East Boothbay in August of 2001 while Scheherazade was being built. The move about a half-mile across town had to be made during the project to afford Hodgdon Yacht room to launch a yacht the size of Scheherazade, Smith said. The project was taken on with a view to the future, Hodgdon said. "We wanted the ability to position ourselves to be able to compete on the world-wide level, on a project of this magnitude," Hodgdon said. "We were on our toes with Antonisa with her 124 feet. I could envision a future holding a few contracts of this magnitude." The company has grown in the past 10 years. Smith said in 1993 there were 13 people in the company; today there are 87. "There's $3 million a year on the payroll," Smith said. Scheherazade has been the company's most ambitious project. Smith said she has amounted to four years of a staff, sometimes as large as a 100, focused on detail. Rollins said the enjoyment in being part of such a monumental project is the allowances that have been made to achieve perfection. In that regard, he said, Sheherazade is a proper museum for the detailed work he has toiled over. "I think craftsmanship could exist anywhere," Rollins said. "Then what better place than on Scheherazade, when she can raise her sails and on the breath of God go anywhere?" Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at: dfleming@pressherald.com
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