In September 2024, an intriguing email landed in the mailboxes of a select group of people in and around the Berkeley Marina in Berkeley, California. “If you pay for materials, I will build you a boat. If you’re interested, send me a story, poem, or anything written by hand on paper that will convince me to go forward with the idea.”

The sender was Iñaki Garat. Four years earlier, Iñaki, a graduate of the California College of the Arts, had bought a 1975 Dufour 24′ sloop, hoping to learn how to sail. The boat was something of a fixer-upper so, while he did learn to sail, Iñaki also learned a good deal about boatbuilding.

Photographs courtesy of Iñaki Garat

While Iñaki had most of the power and hand tools that he needed to build the Nutshell Pram for Jenny, he did invest in new clamps. He put some of the bar clamps to good use early on in the construction when he laminated the ’midship frame.

To this day, Iñaki isn’t sure when or why he started dreaming of building a boat from scratch. All he knows for sure is that it was a challenge he’d wanted to take on for years. But there were a couple of obstacles standing in his way: he had nowhere to build a boat, and he didn’t have the money to pay for materials.

In 2024, Iñaki was living aboard a 36′ sloop when he was offered space in a shared workshop in Oakland. He jumped at the chance; with shop space he was one step closer to fulfilling his dream. But, with the “where” resolved, Iñaki had to confront the “how.” He had most of the tools he’d need, but no disposable income for the materials. Nevertheless, he didn’t want to give up on the dream. And that’s when it came to him: if someone else paid for the materials, he could build a boat for them.

Once the transoms, ’midship frame, and two temporary molds were set up on the strongback, Iñaki laid down the bottom panel. The Nutshell is just 7′ 7″ overall, so its bottom and planks can be cut in their full lengths from 8′ plywood sheets; they do not need to be scarfed for length.

Most of his friends thought the idea was crazy, but Iñaki was determined. He sent his email and waited. “Truthfully,” he confides 18 months later, “I only received one ‘application,’ but it was clear to me that Jenny, who sent a poem, was the perfect partner for the endeavor. It was critical to me that the boat go to a good home, and I had no doubt that Jenny would be that.”

The two had originally met through a mutual friend, but knew little of each other. Nevertheless, they embarked on their joint project with enthusiasm. Jenny was in search of a small boat in which she could learn to sail—her ultimate dream is to fix up an old boat and sail around the world. Other than that, all Iñaki knew was that she was a “nurse who dedicates herself to the homeless community in Oakland, and she’s an amazing baker.” But they decided to go ahead, and within a week had discovered they share the same birthday—it was a good omen.

With just the starboard sheerstrake still to be installed, the pram takes shape.

Iñaki had drawn up a shortlist of small boats he was interested in building, and together he and Jenny settled on the Joel White–designed 7′ 7″ Nutshell Pram.

Iñaki built the pram according to the plans, which he had bought from The WoodenBoat Store. He laminated the stem and ’midship frame from Douglas fir, cut the transoms and planking from marine plywood, the gunwales and thwarts from mahogany, and the spars from Douglas fir. With his background in arts and a professional career that has spanned furniture making, composites, and sailboat rigging, the project—as a whole—was a new experience, but the individual component parts were familiar.

Once all the strakes were fitted, Iñaki could remove the hull from the strongback and turn it right-side up. Before progressing with any of the interior structure, he would clean up any epoxy that had flowed in from the laps.

The hardest aspect, he says, was finding time to actually work on the boat. No sooner had he agreed to build the boat for Jenny than he landed himself a job as a full-time rigger. The Nutshell became a weekend project. Nevertheless, as the months passed the project went on. “Every time I walked into the shop,” says Iñaki, “I’d see the progress being made, but it didn’t feel like I was the one doing it. But one day, after gluing in the maststep, I put the rig up, and it hit me all at once. I remember thinking, ‘Wow! I have built this thing!’”

As the build neared completion, Iñaki turned his attention to the sail. He had a sewing machine and ordered a kit from SailRite, but he had nowhere suitable to make it. In the end, he turned a friend’s apartment into a sail loft for two days. It was, he says, “a fun experience. I’ve sewn clothes and bags, so the assembly was straightforward once I’d found the space to do it in.”

The day Iñaki raised the mast and sail for the first time was the day he fully appreciated that he had actually built a boat.

From that very first email sent to a select few, Iñaki’s boatbuilding endeavors have involved friends and neighbors, so it was perhaps inevitable that the launching would be a community affair. Building his first boat, he says, was a big achievement, worthy of celebration. Together with Jenny, he hosted a launching party. His girlfriend, Natalie, painted a poster to advertise the event, and a band came to play live music. “The band was spread out over two boats in the marina, but even so, in the end so many people showed up that we nearly sank the dock. None of us had ever been to a launch party before, so it was unique experience.” Jenny named the boat THEIA—for the Greek goddess of light, the sun, the moon, and wisdom—and allowed Iñaki to take the inaugural sail. “It was probably one of the best days of my life,” he says.

Photograph courtesy of Lucero Garat

On launching day, Jenny was happy to allow Iñaki the first sail in THEIA—his smile said it all.

Since that day, Jenny and THEIA have often been seen sailing and rowing around the Berkeley Marina, while Iñaki has gone back to dreaming. “Building THEIA served as inspiration to continue to build small boats that strengthen the community,” he says. “I just need to figure out how to do that.”

Jenny Bennett is editor of Small Boats.

Love Letter to a Small Boat
by Jenny Martin

Lilliputian wonder with sail full of holy potential

Joyful companion—we have a vocation—there are friends to visit, sandbars and coves to explore, meteor showers and constellations to fathom, seagulls and seals to chase. There are horizons to navigate, circumscribed only by the limits of imagination.

I want to rock in your wooden cradle, waiting for the sun to rise and the morning breeze to pick up, I want to skip across the spilled paint of sunset, I want to silently sail past sleeping souls under the cover of night, playing at pirate Peter Pan.

And when the weight and woes of the world weigh heavily, we will set out and let the wind and water waste away our cares.

Forget hope, or even courage.

Believe only in joy and vision.

Do you have a boat with an interesting story? Please email us. We’d like to hear about it and share it with other Small Boats readers.

For more designs by Joel White, see:

The Flatfish, an inspired daysailer, reviewed by Joe Youcha

Martha, a soulful little pocket cruiser, reviewed by Rich Hilsinger

Shellback, an easily built all-around skiff, reviewed by Ben Laster