Roy DeCarvalho: UNT history professor gets ready to sail across the Atlantic

		Books on building boats, navigation and 19th-century sailor Joshua Slocum fill the shelves of Roy DeCarvalho's office. The associate professor of history plans to cross the Atlantic next spring in the boat he built.

Many people spend free time reading, watching television or surfing the Internet. Roy DeCarvalho, associate professor of history, used 11 years of his free time to build a boat.

In 1991, DeCarvalho purchased blueprints of the boat that Joshua Slocum used when he became the first man to sail solo around the world in 1895-1898. DeCarvalho then began work on his 28-foot boat in his backyard. Although he had no experience in carpentry or electrical work, his desire to own his own boat fueled his efforts. Through research and hard work, he acquired the knowledge he needed to complete his project.

"Since I was a child, I'd always wanted to have a boat," DeCarvalho says. "I learned most of the skills as I went along. I read a few books about boat construction and asked a lot of questions and did research to answer those questions. I knew nothing about electric and mechanical parts but learned it all from the Internet and books. If you know how to do research, the sky is the limit."

Not having the expertise of boat building wasn't the only obstacle DeCarvalho faced.

"I knew my line of work would never enrich me to the point of being able to afford a ‘toy' worth at least $200,000. I had to teach summer school for 12 years in order to pay for the building materials. But it cost me only a fraction of the price of a brand-name boat," he says.

Years of hard work culminated on July 10, 2002, when DeCarvalho launched his boat, Celiza, in Lake Texoma.

Now DeCarvalho is preparing for an Atlantic crossing from Norfolk, Va., to the Azores and Lisbon, Portugal, a 30- to 40-day trip. He will be in Portugal for a year researching the astronomy of Portuguese navigators during the Age of Discovery.

"I want to do the crossing using the same skills and astronomical tools da Gamma, Cabral and Columbus used during their epoch-making voyages 500 years ago," he says.

As a historian writing about the period, he says, he wants to experience the ocean just as those navigators did and is confident the boat, "appropriately outfitted," will handle the crossing.

While crossing the Atlantic in a homemade boat may be an out of the ordinary dream, Harold M. Tanner, associate professor and chair of the Department of History, has the utmost confidence in DeCarvalho.

"He speaks of sailing across the Atlantic with considerably more ease than most of us would talk about a planned drive down I-35 to Dallas," Tanner says.

DeCarvalho plans to set sail in the spring of 2005 and says he is excited to begin his research.

BY MAGAN HENDON inhouse@unt.edu

Other featured articles in this issue

• UNT System seeks approval for a public law school in downtown Dallas
• UNT community is encouraged to participate in online academic plan forums
• National Public Radio reporter to speak at commencement Dec. 18
• UNT to present two honorary degrees
• About the commencement speaker
• Regents confirm new senior vice president
• Not too late to buy New Orleans Bowl tickets
• UNT enters agreement to provide big possibilities for little technology
• Winter's chill brings the possibility of weather-related university closures
• Help for busted holiday diets
• State Employee Charitable Campaign reaches goal
• Senate discusses exam schedule, tenure, promotion

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