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Mark Bayne alongside the 31-foot Pacific proa, which is his latestcreation.Bayne applies a final bit of epoxy fillet to the motor mount on a31-foot Pacific proa.there are only a handful of companies here carrying on thattradition, building boats with traditional methods, and SeaIsland Boatworks is certainly the most prolific.“From the early ‘90s until 2008, we had new constructionprojects nearly non-stop,” explains Bayne. He and hiscrew turned out a series of large wooden sailing catamarans—plywoodhulls and decks encased in fiberglass—intended for the head-boat trade. In sportfishing circles,Sea Island Boatworks gained notoriety for building a numberof superbly impressive craft from 40 to 56 feet duringthis era. And Bayne was sought out by renowned designerssuch as Bruce Kirby and Kurt Hughes to build customCharleston Sailing School“Learn to Sail with Confidence”Sailing LessonsBareboat & Skippered ChartersPowerboat RentalsYacht DeliveriesCharleston City Marina • 17 Lockwood Dr.843-364-4123www.charlestonsailingschool.comprojects for them.Just prior to that period, in 1989, Bayne was commissionedto build the first of what became four new Sea IslandOne-Designs. When he completed the fourth boat, he hadeffectively doubled the size of the fleet for this 1947 design,which remains one of the few native craft from the LowCountry with boats still sailing.The heyday ended in 2008 when the U.S. economy faltered,and Bayne’s enterprise ground to a near halt. “InOctober that year,” he recalls, “it all just stopped. I had twoorders on the books for 36-foot boats, and both customerscalled to cancel during the same week.” Bayne was forced todownsize, and for a while, he worked solo. “The last threeyears,” he explains, “have been the worst of my entire timebuilding boats, even worse than the first three years when Iwas just getting started.”Bayne filled the gaps with repair work and a few smallcustom projects such as creating a faux fishing boat transomfor a fish market display in Florida. More recently, he hasbranched out into the camping industry, creating a series ofteardrop camp trailers. Not surprisingly, their interiorsresemble those of boats.But given his druthers, Bayne would mostly be workingon new boat projects. There’s a satisfaction, he says, inbeginning with a project on paper or in your head, andworking it all the way through to launching. “That,” saysBayne, “is more suited to my style. I’m a seat-of-the-pants,by-eye kind of boatbuilder. I like to work efficiently. I guess,if I have a niche, it’s the fact that I have never specialized.I’ll build just about anything in wood, from stand-up paddleboardsto schooners or sportfishing boats.”After he finishes the proa sometime later this summer,Bayne and his crew will begin crafting a 13-and-a-half-footMelonseed for a customer in Charleston. As is customary,there will be a gathering to launch and christen the boat.The usual gaggle of friends will turn up and an ad-hoc partywill erupt with everyone raising a cold beer or two, toastingthe success of Sea Island Boatworks. That’s just part of keepingboatbuilding alive in the Carolina Low Country. And noone is sustaining this tradition more ably than native sonMark Bayne.For further information about Sea Island Boat Builders, and a catalogof past and current projects, log on to www.seaislandboatworks.com.News & Views for Southern Sailors SOUTHWINDS June 2012 37