Dick Vermeulen
380 Hope Rd., Lincolnville, ME 04849
Downeast Chapter
dick@mecat.com
207-319-9518

As a kid, I sailed competitively in wooden prams and Sailfish on Green Pond Lake in Northern Jersey. Graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Ohio University in 1970. Started Maine Cat, designing and building performance composite foam-cored sailing catamarans 22’ to 41’ in 1991 and retired in 2020. Joined the Downeast Chapter and TSCA in 2025. I enjoy writing about building and sailing small wooden boats. I built a Calendar Islands Yawl 16, designed by Clint Chase, in 2025, and provided sailboat rides at the Blue Hill Maritime Heritage Festival last August. See attached photo. I would like to become a member of the TSCA council to learn more from other council members, so I can bring that back to the Downeast Chapter and provide more opportunities for folks to build their own boats and expand the TSCA membership. Love to see more regional events with kids building or fitting out simple skiffs, and bringing their parents along to get involved and see their children embrace the thrill of piloting the boat they helped build.

I am also looking forward to writing stories for The Ash Breeze about some of the interesting Maine islands I will be visiting this summer, including Warren State Park, Hurricane, and Rogue.

Bill Vogel
4028 Mizer Court, Jacksonville, FL 32217
At large
Billvogel1955@gmail.com
904-234-8779

I have been sailing boats since I was “knee high to a Coke bottle,” from 10-foot Dyer Dhows to multiple catboats and larger cruisers/racers. I imported traditional trailer sailboats from England (Swallow Boats) for several years and have been a ComPac dealer. Sailing and boating have been my life’s passion.

Although not a boatbuilder, I am particularly drawn to traditional boat lines and currently own a Menger 15 Catboat. In the early 1990s, I owned a Menger 19 catboat, and that craft opened my eyes to the advantages of owning a small, trailerable boat. I trailer-sailed and camp-cruised that catboat from Cumberland Island to the Florida Keys, Sanibel and Captiva, Tarpon Springs, and points in between.

I am a strong advocate for trailerable boats and all the advantages they offer. I am currently a member of the Florida Gun & Tackle Club, the Jacksonville Rudder Club, and a former Commodore of a 300-member sailing club (NFCC).

I would be honored to serve on the TSCA Board and devote my energy and efforts to advancing and growing the Association.

Roger Allen
9993 N Otto Rd., Cattaraugus, NY 14719
Buffalo Maritime Center Chapter

I was hired as Shipkeeper/Curator of the 157’ wooden Barkentine Gazella Premeiro, at the Philadelphia Maritime Museum, in 1978, where I initiated the Workshop on the Water, a floating workshop housed aboard the 110-foot barge Maple, located at the heart of Philadelphia’s working waterfront, and started the TSCA Delaware River Chapter.

I love small-craft adventures and have spent extensive time on Barnegat Bay, the Delaware River, the Chesapeake Bay, North Carolina’s famed Outer Banks, and the Gulf Coast of Florida. I have sailed on such exotic bodies of water as the inner sea of the Netherlands, the canals of England, the Mediterranean, the North Sea, and the Great Lakes.

Professionally, I have led museum programs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Beaufort, North Carolina; Cortez, Florida; and the Buffalo, New York, Maritime Center, where I retired and became Master Boatbuilder for the building of the 73-foot replica of DeWitt Clinton’s Erie Canal boat Seneca Chief and the Center’s workboat Buffalo Sal.

Editor's note: Roger served on the TSCA national council several times during his forty-five-plus-year association with TSCA.