Brion toss biography examples
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Brion’s writing career evolved out of the 1979 publication of The original Ditty Bag Apprenticeship in Woodenboat Magazine and a series of subsequent Woodenboat Magazine articles that he and I co-wrote. After my review ran, I received a card in the mail from Brion. But the pain of such a loss, even when expected, is the heart’s tribute to a man
so beloved.
He once signed my copy of “The Rigger’s Apprentice” with a subtle reference to the Clock of the Long Now, a clock buried deep in a mountain whose chime sounds will not repeat themselves in 10,000 years.
On June 6, Brion died at home at age 69 of bile-duct cancer, and the sailing community lost a singular, luminous craftsman and, by all accounts, a kind and radiant man.
A little over a year ago, I sent Brion an email asking if he’d write an article for Good Old Boat—not about knots or sailboat rigging, but about the life of a rigger, the trade, how someone goes about becoming a rigger.
I told Brion that I am an amateur student of information design, “and I think your Rigger’s Apprentice book is a master class in just that. Carol describes a friend with unbounded mirth, who loved puzzles and sought levity in every situation, and never at the expense of others. People who early on embraced a vocation that was perfectly aligned with their interests and aptitudes?
Even after he embraced the trade and came to spend more time on sailboats than many of us, Brion wasn’t passionate about sailing, he was passionate about the practical role his work played in creating the beauty he saw in a yacht under sail.
Maybe you’ve met people doing what they’re born to do? And if you’re gifted in this passion, if you can make it the foundation of your purpose and career, and your desire and aptitude for sharing your passion are equal, then chances are you will give a gift to the world.
In our world of sailboats and sailing, Brion Toss gave such a gift to many through his craft, skill, and joy as a master rigger.
Brion got back to me with clear, comprehensive information.
The book is accessible and clear and perfect, a real work to give the world.”
In the mailbox a week later, I received his new book, Falling, and a request I review it—I’d just experienced a twinkle of his sense of humor.
Falling was totally unexpected, like hearing first-hand over a beer the author’s favorite stories about the singular danger inherent to his trade: “unimpeded gravity.” But he steered away from gruesome tragedy and towards characteristic wit.
By all accounts, that was Brion Toss.
Michael Robertson is Good Old Boat’s editor.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. The art in there is a warm invitation to keep turning the pages. Months later, when I was about to touch base about the article he was eager to write for us, I heard from another friend that Brion was not well.
But he was so much more, and the community mourns his loss.
He died June 6 at age 69 in Port Townsend, Washington, where he had a rigging shop, Brion Toss Yacht Riggers in Point Hudson Marina.
Toss had a reverence for the traditions of the craft and its importance to the safety and well being of sailors and others.
“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 loved extravagantly. She’s mourning a raucous laugh she’s used to hearing boom across the harbor regularly. “Last night as Venus departed from its intimate planetary visit, our beloved Brion Toss, surrounded by his loving family, caught a peaceful ride on the glorious tide of a Strawberry Rose Full Moon.”
Toss was a legendary master rigger who could be found merely by listening for his booming beacon of a laugh.
She assured me the book was coming, to be finished by Ian Weedman, the rigger who has worked for Brion for decades, the rigger Brion trusted to carry on his business.
I learned that Brion wasn’t a sailor turned rigger, he was a young guy fascinated with knots who saw rigging as a trade that would let him tie more of them.