The death of Professional BoatBuilder founder Carl Cramer last week brought a flood of calls and messages from friends and readers around the world to the magazine’s editorial desk. Carl was every boatbuilder’s best friend whether they knew it or not. A passionate sailor and boat owner, a brilliant publisher, and a relentless boating-industry impresario, he founded multiple new business ventures for Maine-based WoodenBoat Publications during his 27-year tenure there—a wood one-design regatta, ahead-of-its-time online training for marine technicians, an online tradeshow, Professional BoatBuilder, and the immensely successful IBEX, which he claims to have started as an excuse to meet some of the designers, builders, and writers who were his heroes.

His admiration for the work of boatbuilding was broad and generous, ranging from the composites shop, paint booth, and rigging loft, to the design office and marketing department. The trade returned his genuine enthusiasm with respect, friendship, and an unending stream of fodder for his new ideas and passions. No surprise then that he owned dozens of boats, from wetsuit-mandatory, trapeze-equipped sailing dinghies and Uffa Fox’s only outboard skiff, to a couple of graceful Herreshoff ketches and a pint-sized Whiticar sportfisherman. And no shock again that he gave many of them away when the next boat idea caught his fancy.

Openminded, openhearted, and always out in front of the fleet is how we’ll remember him. Take a minute to raise a glass (Heineken or Oude Genever) to the enduring enthusiasm and innovation in our industry that Carl inspired.