F/v erin | Welcome to the website.
Hello all- Kaila here (Eric’s daughter). My fiance Ryan and I decided to create a surprise website for my dad for his birthday. We have both been trying to convince him to showcase his craft online for a very long time. My dad is a humble and quiet guy when it comes to his artistic hobby (as the best artists out there usually are), and the website idea was always met with grumbles. So…one day when dad was out, Ryan and I secretly took matters into our own hands…turning his space into a pop-up photography studio and photographing as many of his pieces as we could before he came home. I am writing the first few blog entries before turning the surprise website over to him (pray it goes well hehe). I am especially excited to write this one.
My dad fished Bristol Bay from the time he was a young man. He navigated the waters through the tail end of the wooden drift-boat era, eventually building his own Wegley boat, eventually having my sister Kendra and I as deckhands and teaching us the ways of the water aboard The Silverbow. I can’t begin to explain the character that the incredible Bristol Bay region builds in a person. I have so much respect for the ocean, land, people of the region, ways of life, and the incredible millions of returning salmon that fill the rivers of Bristol Bay when they return home every year. I am eternally grateful for all 23 of my summers spent with my dad on the pristine waters of Bristol Bay.
F/V Erin was an old friend of mine; she was there for 22 of my fishing years (and many years preceding me as well). Each year she looked a little more weathered, but each year she stoically welcomed me to Naknek from atop her rickety blocks where she’d remained since her final season at sea. At the end of my 22nd summer…somewhere between stripping nets and scraping fish scales off the drum dad said, “lets go get a piece of wood off the Erin.” So I happily stopped what I was doing, piled into the rusty red tacoma, and off we went. I am so glad Ryan was there that season to document this special moment because as it turns out, that was the final summer Erin would be there. On my 23rd season, she was suddenly gone- hauled off to the dump- one less wooden bay boat, 20 more shiny new twin diesel-jets in her place. And so goes the tale of Bristol Bay.
Turns out that under all the cracking paint and a few plane passes later, the pungent aroma of yellow cedar was still there in all its delightful glory. Dad worked his magic on those planks, and turned Erin into various amazing pieces- many of which he gifted to old friends in the Bristol Bay Region who would smile knowingly when they were told the origins of the piece they held in their hands. A little snapshot of Bristol Bay history, and a remnant of an old friend.
What I admire most about my dad’s woodworking is the quiet way it carries history forward. He folds fragments of the past—things once set aside or forgotten—into objects meant to be used again. What might have been dismissed as outdated or disposable was given another purpose, another season of life.
When I look at my segmented salt and pepper shaker, I get to see Erin again—carried gently forward into her next chapter, holding salt from the sea once more.
Welcome to dad’s website!
-Kaila
Segmented Salt and Pepper Shaker | Yellow Cedar from F/V Erin and Cherry.
