Brion toss biography of william hamilton

Brion Toss practiced, wrote about, and taught the art and craft of rigging from his homeport of Port Townsend,Washington.

Brion toss biography of william hamilton: William Rowan Hamilton (–)

Toss spent much of his life aloft, rigging everything from small sloops to massive square-riggers. Anyone who knew Toss knew how to find him in a crowd: just wait a few minutes until that booming beacon of a laugh rang out, and head for it. Instead of looking for how he could make the most money and acquire the things we were all told we needed to acquire, whether it was homes or cars or besting the Joneses, he followed a heart-path.

They put us on the map in a way that showed this place really honors craft and the value of work for the sake of what it can bring to the world instead of what it can bring to us individually. Toss had a lifelong fascination with good knots, not just for their utility, symmetry, or strength but also for the sheer joy of their mathematical complexity.

And then he might play you a tune on his marimbas, or his flute, or hand you a drum. Toss could come down to your small sailboat and tie a good luck knot for your voyage, or he could completely rerig ships of any size the U. Coast Guard used his seminars , and his famously accessible explanations made sure everyone understood.

He was as interested in sailing newbies as he was in circumnavigators. Years later when she visited him at his shop, he remembered her and gave her a tour and a discount on splicing equipment. With much hilarity he helped my husband and me write our wedding vows, in a little ditty we called The Book of Getting Spliced.