{"id":61730,"date":"2026-01-20T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/?p=61730"},"modified":"2026-01-20T14:29:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T19:29:36","slug":"life-at-sea-in-miniature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/people\/life-at-sea-in-miniature\/","title":{"rendered":"A Life at Sea, in Miniature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n        <section class=\"hydra-container\">\n\n\t\t\t                <div class=\"hydra-canvas\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Abordage-Booth-1024x683.jpg\" class=\"hydra-image disable-lazyload\" alt=\"Abordage\u2019s America\u2019s Cup model\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Abordage-Booth-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Abordage-Booth-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Abordage-Booth-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Abordage-Booth.jpg 1500w\" \/>                <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n            <figcaption class=\"caption margin_top_xs full border_1 hydra-figcaption\">\n                <span class=\"hydra-image-caption\">Abordage\u2019s America\u2019s Cup models show the same precision and artistry the company brings to every custom build.<\/span>\n                <span class=\"article_image_credit italic margin_right_xs\">Roger Hughes<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t            <\/figcaption>\n        <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n<iframe id=\"gkstfcayky\" src=\"https:\/\/cruisingworld.dragonforms.com\/gkstfcayky\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"width:100%;height:165px;border:none;overflow:hidden;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>I went to last year\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This booth belonged to Abordage, a company that\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve built a few scale ship models myself\u2014four, to be exact\u2014so I look closely at the details. These were clearly in another league. Before long, I\u2019d decided I wanted a half-hull model of my own schooner, Britannia, a 50-foot brigantine that\u2019s carried me through many a fine adventure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Abordage\u2019s process blends digital precision with old-world craftsmanship. Working from an owner\u2019s 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\u2019s model are exactly where they should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, the model sits within a mahogany-and-plexiglass display case. It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2014and this year\u2019s Annapolis showgoers could see the result, with my own completed model on display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:15px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read more of his stories at:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/schooner-britannia.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">schooner-britannia.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A custom half-hull model captures the soul of a schooner, and the lifetime of sailing memories it represents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":61731,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Roger Hughes","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":true,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","sponsored_image":false,"sponsored_url":"","social_share":true,"ad_targeting":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true,"alternate_title_newsletter":"","alternate_content_newsletter":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[190,2169,197],"class_list":["post-61730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-annapolis-boat-show","tag-february-2026","tag-people"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}