Family working to build Scandinavian sailboat in Lakeside

When 13-year-old Somers Middle School student Jake Milone began telling his parents two years ago that he wanted to build a Norwegian-style sailboat, they didn't bat an eye.

Such an ambitious undertaking may seem like a flight of fancy for most Jake's age, but Colin and Karen Milone knew their son was serious. Now, hard at work alongside Jake, spending several hours each week working to build a tirrik sailboat at the Montana Wooden Boat Foundation in Lakeside.

"As someone looking in on this from the outside, I at first asked myself if this family would be able to complete this project," said Alex Berry, the foundation's executive director. "Sure, they see each other all the time, but would they be able to come in here and build a boat together? So far, the answer to that question has been a huge yes."

Born and raised in Alaska until he was 7, Jake has no Scandinavian ancestry that the family knows of. But that didn't keep him from becoming fascinated with everything Nowegian, from boat building to Norse mythology.

"We don't have Norwegian heritage that we know of, but I think there is a kindred appreciation with the Scandinavian way of life, especially for Jake being born and living in the subarctic of Alaska for half of his life," Colin Milone said.

A well-read student with blacksmithing experience and a knack for building things, Jake first had his parents looking into the possibility of attending a boat-building school in Norway while the COVID-19 pandemic had his school shut down. They went so far as to have a school picked out in Rissa, on the Fosen Peninsula in Trøndelag, Norway. Jake even began teaching himself Norwegian.

That dream was short-lived, though, as Norway soon closed its borders and the family learned that the school did not accept students younger than 18.

UNDAUNTED, JAKE and his family continued to ask around, hoping to find someone who could teach them the skills to make Jake's dream a reality. Time and again, they received the same answer: "You should go talk with Jon Derry."

Derry, the man responsible for keeping the 1929 wooden sailboats at the Flathead Lake

Lodge alive and well, also runs wooden boat building workshops at the Montana Wooden

Boat Foundation. After visiting with Derry and Berry at the foundation, the Milones soon learned that Derry was trained in the Norwegian style of boat building and was the perfect man to mentor them.

"It turns out that we didn't need to go all the way to Norway to find what we were looking for. We only had to go as far as Lakeside to find someone who could help teach us how to build the boat we wanted," Colin Milone said. "What are the odds of that?"

With a teacher and a building location nailed down, the next task was to decide on the exact design the family would choose for its boat build.

Jake, who had recently read a book set in Norway where the characters built a boat and go on a series of adventures, wanted to attempt the clinker-built construction common with Norwegian boats, thinking his blacksmithing experience would be useful in a process that uses overlapping planks riveted together to form the hull.

"That kind of thing has always interested me," he said, "so when I got the idea that I wanted to build a boat there was no doubt what style of boat it was going to be."

While Jake was originally dead-set on building a Norwegian faering using traditional methods, he and his family eventually decided to build a hybrid tirrik sailboat — a Norwegian design modified by the Scots — using more modern techniques.

WHILE THE Milone family boat building was scheduled to start at the end of 2020, sometimes life has a funny way of stepping in and altering the best-laid plans. After working out the details and arranging a schedule at the Boat Building Center in Lakeside, the pandemic put all boat building at the foundation on hold until new safety precautions could be put in place.

When construction finally got underway, Karen Milone thought the project would be perfect for her husband and son, but soon found herself with a hammer in hand, ready to help out.

"Originally, I thought this would be a project for the boys," she said. "I had never really thought about building a boat before, but I have always wanted to learn how to use tools. When they got to work, I figured having more hands would help the project and I just started helping."

Her "boys" were grateful for the help.

"She brings a skill set that is completely different from what Jake and I possess," Colin Milone said. "She is very detail-oriented and she is just a natural at this kind of work. It's really fun that we are all so into this project and get so excited about it."

With hours of work already behind them, the Milone's tirrik is beginning to take shape inside the Lakeside workshop. Under the watchful eye of Derry, the family continues the meticulous work of piecing together their boat.

"Having someone like Jon around has been amazing," Jake said. "He is super patient and willing to answer questions I know he has heard at least a thousand times. There is no way we could do this without him."

With no completion date set, Jake says he can't wait to take his friends out on Flathead Lake in his finished boat, but he and his family are quickly learning this will not be a short-term project.

"One of the hardest things for me has been realizing that every little thing you do affects some other aspect of the boat. There are a lot of choices to make along the way and there is no one right answer," Colin Milone said. "The time involved in this is something you might not think about when you first get started. This is going to be a long process, but it is so much fun. Every little part takes time, but it is all going to be worth it."

Reporter Jeremy Weber may be reached at 406-758-4446 or jweber@dailyinterlake.com.