STORIES

Eamonn Doorly doesn't like to talk about himself. Luckily, his work speaks for itself. Born into a family of academics and writers in Lake Huron, Doorly knew early he didn't have quite the same mind as those around him. While most of his family was happy with their nose in a book, "I was always out in the fields building something," he says. In school he struggled to understand concepts on paper, but he loved working with his hands and he loved being on the water. "Right from

The schooner Tree of Life began as an ambitious dream: a traditional-looking vessel that could carry family and friends around the world, without the weaknesses of a conventional plank-on-frame wooden boat. That dream took shape in a Nova Scotian boat shop. Kelly Kellogg had recently sailed from Europe and wanted a vessel capable of long ocean passages. “I always wanted to build a boat," recalls Kellogg. He had seen a schooner in Amsterdam and wanted to buy it but the owner t

"Imagine yourself on a boat out at sea. Suddenly, the water can take a turn for the worse," says Geir Karlsen, gazing seriously at his TED talk audience, "A strong gale can pick up and fill your boat with dark and ice-cold water from the North Atlantic. You're not prepared for the shock that comes when your body hits the icy-cold water." Karlsen says the idea for a device to prevent vessels sinking came from a tragic experience in his youth when five people went out for a da