Months of teamwork, craftsmanship and hard work are finally paying off as local students took their handmade boats to the water at Hoyt Lake on Tuesday.
"I built that bad boy all by myself," Nicholas Rittling said. "It took me two years to build it. It took me a really long time to get it done. A lot of friends came and went, and I went through a lot of hardships too in home life and stuff, so it was a very big accomplishment for me."
Students from WNY Maritime Charter School, St. Mary's School for the Deaf and Riverside Academy launched the wooden canoes at Hoyt Lake.
Chelsea Moore, education director at the Buffalo Maritime Center, said the most rewarding part is watching students gain confidence.
"I think working on a wooden boat grounds these students and gives them hand tool use and technical skills, but also emotional skills that come with working on projects like this," said Moore.
For Rittling, the months of work led to this moment.
"I was there Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, whenever I could through the winter," said Rittling. "I tried to be there as much as I could. I loved it there."
Moore said the process takes patience, but it pays off.
"Sometimes it can be boring and tedious, scraping and sanding, but once it hits May and June, it becomes real, and they see these boats as something they can actually use," she said.
WATCH: 'A beautiful experience': Students launch handmade canoes at Hoyt Lake after months of work
Rittling said he pushed through to finish his project.
"Sometimes I didn't even want to go. But you tell yourself you've got to get it done, you're this close," he said. "One more day, get through the day. It's the mindset."
The canoes will be part of Buffalo Maritime Center's fleet at Hoyt Lake and be available for rent this summer. Proceeds support the center's educational programs, something Rittling said makes him proud.
"You get that feeling that you made this, and now you're on it on a beautiful day on the lake. It's just a beautiful experience," he said.
