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| A craftsman of the high seas
Jaume Cifre / Master boat builder
Jaume Cifre is one of the most experienced mestres de aixa or wooden boat builders in Mallorca. After a lifetime of building wooden boats, he now dedicates his time to giving master classes to students in order to preserve his craft. Cifre claims that at his stage in life, there are no more goals to set. His craft however remains unique, and this can be seen through his work on boats such as La Balear.
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| Text: Roberto Gracia, Photo: Almudena Taboada |
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Master boat builders and their trade secrets are passed down from one generation to the next. Cifre is one of the most experienced professionals and has been building boats for over 41 years. Due to financial difficulties in his youth, he left school at 13 and started to work in a boat yard where he learnt all his trade secrets. He has now built over 60 boats, and each one took years to complete.
A wooden boat of under ten metres in length requires a team of nine master craftsmen at least eight months to construct. The wood is cut and shaped to the exact specifications to make a boat sea worthy. To do this traditionally, the boat builders use an aixa (an axe which can be used to shave,
polish and cut the wood) which is no longer used today as boatyards have turned to more efficient and mechanical tools. However, although wooden boats are more time consuming to build,
they sail better than their fibre-built counter parts.
Today, Jaume Cifre no longer builds but he teaches the craft. He is planning to retire and share his passion with those who will become master Aixa boat builders of the future. He has taken on a big responsibility because the students he currently teaches at the Aixa workshop will be the teachers of the future. |
| To arrive at such a level of skill, Cifre has had to cut and shape a large quantity of wood, exemplified by the woods used to build La Balear, declared an Asset of Cultural Importance by the Mallorcan Island Council. He was involved with the first phase of restoring this boat, built in 1924, at the age of 16. He is now in charge of restoring the boat again, a task that will give him enormous personal satisfaction. |
| Although he feels that he has no new goals to set at this time of his life, when he was young, Jaume considered every boat a new challenge. The bigger the boat, the bigger the challenge and he went on to build boats of up to 15 metres in length. Today he is no longer daunted by size and shape as his experience has expanded throughout the years. | |
| The profession of wooden boat building is deep-rooted in Mallorca, an island where there are over 1,500 wooden boats, with highly skilled professionals and a long tradition. Some of the techniques are unique to Mallorca and may not be found beyond her shores. |
| The materials used to build the boats are just as important as the technique. The best wood to build these boats comes from perennial and column-like trees cut under the full moon in January and August when they shed their leaves. |
| The construction and conservation of wooden boats in Mallorca will survive as long as Juame Cifre continues working and passing on his knowledge to others. |
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