Appendices -- Useful Supplemental Information

Sole Prop

After a first career in journalism (newspaper reporter and magazine editor), Dabbler Sails’ sole prop left Chicago on a small sailboat, down the Mississippi. I cruised aboard her for 22 years, from the Caribbean to Maine, and out to Bermuda. Came ashore in 1990, built a house, and looked around for a living. I had occasionally been “casual labor” in a Florida sail loft, keeping my eyes open while doing handwork on the bench, and had made, on an old hand-crank zig-zag machine, a complete suit of sails for our 30 foot ketch. Consequently, in 1991, I set up as a sailmaker. My wife and I had an 18-foot catboat named Dabbler (after ducks that feed in shallow water), and gave the name and duck silhouette to the new business. Initially, we took on any job that offered -- sails for local (Chesapeake Bay) boats, repairs, canvaswork, rigging, and masthead work. Dabbler Sails advertising in national magazines focused on traditional small-craft sails, and to my delight these have gradually replaced all other kinds of work.