‘Drawing all over the floor’ Sailmaking is classwork for Chimacum students learning math, geometry and business

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

BY KIRK BOXLEITNER

Chimacum Junior/Senior High School recently partnered with local sailmakers to illus- trate the real-world relevance of math and geometry lessons while making what might be the largest tall ship mainsail in the country.

Marrowstone Island’s fam- ily-owned Force 10 Sailmaking and Rigging lacked a loft space large enough to assemble the approximately 2,900-square- foot, 3,000-pound mainsail for the New York-based nonprofit Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, a single-masted traditional sailboat.

So, Force 10 co-owner and sail- maker Nahja Chimenti teamed up with Daniel Evans, who teaches construction trades and careers for the Chimacum School District’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs.

The Chimacum school provided Force 10 with space enough to assemble the Clearwater’s sail,

and Chimenti joined Evans’ class for two days, to help his construction trades students learn how to take their ideas from illustrations to physical creations.

According to Evans, this involved “a fair bit of math and,

see SAIL, page A22