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The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir
Darlene Zscheck and Hillsong music
Alvin Slaughter
Ron Kenoly
Robin Mark
Sandi Patty
Paul Wilbur
Marty Goetz
Christ Church Choir
Chris Tomlin
Michael W. Smith
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He relied on instinct and
the experience of a lifetime reading
the wind on the water to create
boats that are both beautiful and
functional.
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
ing mast so that it could be motored
under bridges, was taken by freighter to
Europe.
“It’s in the Mediterranean somewhere
now, as far as I know. It went over the
Alps on a flatbed trailer,” Willard says,
still awed by the effort it must have
taken. “They took it to Europe as deck
cargo.”
The boat’s owner was so pleased with
the way she handled, that he invited
the boat builder and his wife to Europe
to take a turn in the canals. The
Willards couldn’t accept the invitation,
but the outpouring of camaraderie and
kinship with their customers was not
uncommon at all.
Curious neighbors, local boaters,
friends and prospective boat buyers
couldn’t stay away from the smell of
wood shavings and the hum of boat
talk going on at the shop. One buyer
regularly dropped anchor to have
lunch with the Willards whenever he
was in transit. Another buyer enjoyed
the Willards’ Southern hospitality
and lovely spot on the sound so much
that he and his wife pitched a tent in
the backyard and made themselves at
home.
“That was OK for a several days,”
Elisabeth says, remembering the couple
fondly, “but after awhile we suggested a
campground.”
The bigger boats were either put in
at the Masonboro Boatyard or trailered
from the boat shop by their new owners.
But most of the Crown Point boats were
launched from the Willards’ front yard
into the sound, and as usual, these launchings
drew a crowd of enthusiastic friends.
“We’d tow them as far as we could at
low tide, and then let them float off,”
Willard says. “You have to not be in a
hurry to do that.”
The Willards’ photo albums are
full of boats and family and sailing
trips. The pages are also stuffed with
thank you notes and Christmas cards
from dozens of clients turned friends,
some of whom still have their Crown
Point boats on the water. Local architectural
designer and builder Bryan
Humphrey prizes the 18-foot Crown
Point sailing dory that he bought from
Willard in 1988. Humphrey keeps
it on a trailer at the Carolina Yacht
Club, and sails it throughout the year
around Wrightsville Beach, Chesapeake
Bay and to the annual Wooden Boat
Show in Beaufort, North Carolina.
Humphrey, smitten with the beauty
and feel of a wooden boat on the water,
continues to add to the collection that
Emerson Willard instigated.
“We’ve got a whole barn full of
boats,” Humphrey admits. “And he’s
the one who got it all started.”
Emerson Willard still keeps boats
tucked away in the boat shop, and
there’s always at least one sailboat available
for his grown sons, Martin and
Emerson Jr., when they come to visit.
Both men are consummate sailors, and
Martin, who lives in Wilmington, competed
in the Laser Nationals in Florida
last winter. One of Emerson Willard’s
30-foot sailing dories, the OHNO III,
rests proudly in the old boat shop like
a grand old dame with her bow facing
Masonboro Sound.