Sporting

VIRGINIA LIVING : What sparked your interest in sailing?

STEVE ZIMMERMAN: When I was maybe 10 or 11 years old, I got invited to go sailing with an uncle and just fell in love with it. Gradually, through my uncle and some friends of his, I got invited onto other boats, and I’d just go out for the day. And that evolved to where, when they were moving their boats in the spring from up the Delaware down to the Chesapeake, I’d get invited along because they needed crew.

When I was 17, I saw an ad in a magazine for a deckhand on a boat in New York. I applied for it and got the job. That was a boat called the Rosa II, a [custom-built wooden ketch] that I’ve been taking care of since 1971. I lived on the boat in New York. Every Saturday and Sunday, we’d sail with guests. And then we took off in July for six weeks and cruised to Maine and back, almost to Canada. That was what got me going.

What was it that appealed to you about being on a sailboat?

When you’re on a sailboat, you have to take what’s given to you and accept it, because you can’t overpower Mother Nature. Without realizing it—I was only a teenager—I think that really connected for me.

When did that interest in sailing turn to an interest in boatbuilding?

In 1977, I had graduated from UVA, was accepted at law school there for the fall, and was working on this boat—the Rosa II. I’d been away from the boat for a few years and wanted something to do that summer after four years of college. That summer we visited the yard where the boat had been built, by a guy named Paul Luke. It was these craftsmen, working with their hands in this beautiful, rural cove on the coast of Maine. At the end of the day, they look back at what they just did, and it’s good. And I thought it wouldn’t matter if these guys were building violins or boats. What’s happening here is really unique and something I’d like to experience. And when else am I likely to do it, other than now? So, I finished my season on the boat, drove to Maine and went to work for Paul. Minimum wage. I didn’t know what I was doing. And that’s how I got started.