Over the last 35 years Jay Smith has researched and built Nordic lapstrake boats, beginning in a small boat shop on a fjord in western Norway. A seven month apprenticeship in the Faroe Islands focused on skills and building techniques reaching back 1000 years. Periodic travel and research in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark has strengthened Jay’s understanding of Scandinavian culture, history, and boatbuilding. Over the years he has shared these unique traditions with enthusiastic young boat builders and wooden boat enthusiasts through hands-on workshops, lectures and classes. He builds and repairs boats in his shop on Fidalgo Island, Washington.