A Life at Sea, in Miniature
I went to last year’s Annapolis Sailboat Show with a familiar mission: to hunt for new products worth writing about. Amid the rows of sleek hulls and glistening gear, one booth stopped me in my tracks. It was filled with miniature boats so finely crafted, they looked ready to set sail across the tabletop.
This booth belonged to Abordage, a company that’s been handcrafting exquisite model boats for 35 years. Denis and Cynthia Cartier welcomed me with warm smiles. Their display gleamed with full-hull models, half hulls and racing replicas, all executed with remarkable precision and artistry.
I’ve built a few scale ship models myself—four, to be exact—so I look closely at the details. These were clearly in another league. Before long, I’d decided I wanted a half-hull model of my own schooner, Britannia, a 50-foot brigantine that’s carried me through many a fine adventure.
Abordage’s process blends digital precision with old-world craftsmanship. Working from an owner’s drawings and photos, this team builds incredibly accurate replicas, down to the winches, turnbuckles and pinrails. The hulls are created using stereolithography, a resin 3D-printing process cured by laser light. Sails are real Dacron cloth. Even the belaying pins on Britannia’s model are exactly where they should be.
The finished piece arrived this fall, after a journey as intricate as the model itself. It took a team of eight craftspeople and roughly 140 hours to complete, in their workshop in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic. It came packed in a reinforced crate so finely built that unboxing it felt like opening a nested set of treasures.
Today, the model sits within a mahogany-and-plexiglass display case. It’s light, elegant and easy to hang, like a painting. Mine measures 20 inches wide by 22 inches high, and graces the wall of my study.
Abordage has earned a reputation among serious yachtsmen, shipyards and yacht clubs around the world. The company has built models for Team New Zealand, American Magic and other America’s Cup campaigns. Larger self-standing models, like a 3-foot Fleming motoryacht or a 5-foot Uniesse Raptor, are museum-worthy pieces of marine art.
Prices vary depending on the boat and the level of customization. If your vessel is a production model, Abordage may already have the specs. For custom boats like Britannia, they start from scratch—and this year’s Annapolis showgoers could see the result, with my own completed model on display.
To me, this is a different kind of portrait than a painting. It holds the shape, soul and memories of a boat and its skipper. When the real Britannia and I have both moved on, I hope this little replica will endure, a perfect miniature of a life well sailed.
Roger Hughes has been messing about on boats for a half century, as a professional captain, charterer, restorer, instructor and happy imbiber. He completed a full restoration and extensive modification of his 50-foot ketch, Britannia.
Read more of his stories at: schooner-britannia.com
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