As 2025 winds to a close, so too does our first full year of operation at Not by Bread Alone Sailing! This foundational year has been so exciting for us as we set the stage for what is sure to be an exciting program in the coming years. We cannot thank this community enough for their incredible support thus far; here is a quick rundown of some of the key things we accomplished this past year:
Repair strategy: At the beginning of the year, we realized we needed to answer the philosophical question of if we were undertaking a restoration or a rebuild. Our initial intent was to undergo a focused restoration of key challenge areas, but as we got underneath (literally and figuratively) the condition of the boat, we realized that we had an opportunity to widen both the scale and scope of the repairs, to not just fix but improve Bread's condition. While this has significantly expanded our scope, leaving no inch of the boat untouched, we are confident this will be a better fit for our future vision as a competitive racing program.
Demolition & dismantling: Stripping the boat was our primary focus for the first half of the year - she's a big boat and there were lots of systems, furniture, and structure to work through. In many cases, parts of the boat structure that were too far gone were completely demoed, such as the rotten balsa cores and diesel-soaked furniture. However, we were careful to dismantle and preserve pieces that can be restored rather than replaced, such as the electrical wiring and instruments, keel, engine, and fuel tank. We've also been undergoing preservation of salvageable equipment, such as lifelines, stanchions, and hydraulics.
Rebuilding & improving: While much of the year was focused on material removal, we also hit the exciting milestone of starting to rebuild the structure and see the boat take shape again. Rewarding progress has been made here already, such as recoring a substantial portion of the deck and adding additional fiberglass to the bilge. We found that the hull in the bilge was only 3/8" thick - far too thin to stand up to the loads from the keel and rig of a competitive racing boat; we have since added new fiberglass to build this out to a full inch thick in preparation for the new keel grid in 2026.
Community engagement: So many of you have participated, visited, and contributed your knowledge and expertise to Bread this year. We have purposefully started reaching out to key audiences, potential partners, interested parties, and industry experts to share the vision of the program and get hands on the boat as early as possible.
As a motivated group of volunteers, we're humbled by the incredible support and the expert guidance we've received from this community. We knew a lot going into this project, but it has challenged us to grow our skills and piece them together in new ways as we take on a full rebuild on land, rather than maintaining one system at a time on a boat that’s already in the water.
In 2026, our Board of Directors is planning to build on this foundation and keep pushing toward our long-term goals for the program. In the short term, we will be continuing the physical repair progress, moving into rebuilding structural components such as furniture, bulkheads, and the keel grid. Further in the coming year, we expect to attach the keel and rudder in summer, with hopes to splash mid-season. There are days where this seems impossible with how much work there is still to be done - building the sail inventory; redesigning the rigging plan; designing instrumentation / electronics; reinstalling the motor; painting the bottom. However, we're excited to carry the momentum into 2026 - especially with your continued advice, expertise, and support.
For more information, to volunteer on an upcoming project, or to make a final year-end gift in 2025, please visit www.nbbasailing.org.
