A Knoxville, Tennessee, couple celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary sailing along the Norwegian Coast on a woodturning cruise as a result of winning the NOVA sweepstakes.
The grand prize in the “Win with NOVA™” sweepstakes, Bradley Duckett, a customer at the Knoxville Woodcraft store, and his wife, Laura, were flown to Stavanger, Norway, to board the MS Gann for the August 15-27 cruise that featured woodturning demonstrations and instruction by well-known woodturners, and carvers, plus stops at 11 cities along the picturesque Norwegian coast (a $15,000 value).
Duckett stated the following on one of his Facebook posting’s, “Hello Nova fans! This is Brad Duckett, the (very) lucky winner of the Teknatool/Nova Trip of a Lifetime contest. Today will be our first full day on the cruise after two days in the beautiful southwestern Norwegian city of Stavanger. Flying into Stavanger was spectacular. The heavy clouds broke up in time to let the sun highlight the fjords that stretch for miles up the rocky coast. The city itself is a charming collection of older neighborhoods wrapped around a wonderful harbor.”
Duckett said the cruise was more than he ever expected when he entered the sweepstakes. “The trip was amazing at all levels. The scenery was incredible, the woodturning was fantastic, and the weather even cooperated (only three days with some rain).” “There are no formal woodturning classes. What we did was hook up with one of the demonstrators and work one-on-one with them,” Duckett explained. “I worked with Nick Agar on a really cool textured bowl. He showed me fantastic techniques. It was the first colored bowl I’ve ever done, and I really liked the process. And Nick was very patient with me.”
NOVA has provided several lathes for cruisers to work on while on the woodturning cruise. Here Duckett is working on a NOVA DVR lathe. “It’s a powerful, incredibly smooth variable-speed lathe with a swivel headstock. What I really like is that the motor is integrated in the headstock. There are no belts! Speed is controlled by magnets and a microcomputer the controls the speed. This allows the lathe to avoid any problems with inconsistent speed when the belts stretch or latency during speed changes.” Duckett exclaimed, “It’s easily the smoothest lathe I’ve ever worked with.”
Laura Duckett opted for scarf making and other textile work, but Duckett said she did try her hand at woodturning, her first time. In addition to Nick Agar, Duckett met other well-known turners, including Richard Raffin, Bonnie Klein, Glenn Lucas, Terry Scott, Mark Baker, Clive Brooks, Rolly Munro and Marcel Van Berkel. “I loved the camaraderie with the other woodturners, both professional and amateur,” Duckett said.
“We met people from 13 different countries and had a great time getting to know them. I also absolutely love Norway. It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever been, and I’ve been blessed to travel extensively. Laura also enjoyed the travel, the scenery and the people we met. It was just perfect for our 10th anniversary. We’re already talking about going back for the 2014 trip!” A software engineer for Scripps Networks, Duckett has been seriously pursuing woodturning in his leisure time for about three years and is a member of the Smokey Mountain Woodturners and th East Tennessee Woodworker’s Guild.
Other sweepstakes winners include: Brad Stave of Gig Harbor, Washington, second prize ($500 worth of NOVA products); Jack Callaway of Brunswick, Georgia, third prize ($250 worth of NOVA products); and Thomas Roberts of Erskine, United Kingdom; Jeffery Johns of Las Vegas, Nevada; Fernando Igreda of Toronto, Canada; Cindy Barker of Carmel, California; Ian Jaques of Tooradin, Australia; Dale Smith of Littleton, New Hampshire; and Carlos Mejia of Bogota, Colombia—fourth through 10th prizes (various NOVA products to the value of $200), respectively.
For more information about Duckett on the cruise, visit www.facebook.com/pages/NOVA-Woodworking/91583652118?ref=share.
To find out more about NOVA, visit www.teknatool.com.
Woodcraft Supply, LLC, is the industry leader in providing a wide variety of top quality products, educational opportunities and one-on-one guidance to woodworkers of all skill levels. For more information about Woodcraft, please contact the store nearest you, visit www.woodcraft.com or call (800) 535-4482. To learn about Woodcraft franchise opportunities, call (800) 344-3348, visit www.woodcraftfranchise.com
Incredible opportunities can happen in woodworking.
So get to your local Woodcraft store and start creating some sawdust today…Frank
