Nothing to do with boat building really. My curiosity is more to do with wondering if he was ill, or even still with us. No one is about to hire a private-eye to dig him out and expose him to the glare unwanted public attention.

Some of the first boats I built, and still use, were designed before computers, and long before the advent of the Internet, by a bloke by the name of Daryl Graves. He started me down this strange path, and years later, post Internet, I thought I'd contact him, just to let him know that his sharing of his skills had benefited me in so many ways, but he had faded from view and I never found out what became of him.

I think Tom falls into the category of having shared with huge and cheerful generosity. If he is happily in seclusion, fine, but if he is out there needing moral support, then this community, I'm sure, has it for him by the bucketful.

No one stops to consider the wellbeing of anyone who has left no impression, because no one remembiers them. If you leave an impression, then people are going to care, and Tom left an impression. He may be just fine, but folks are gonna be curious. I think this community is considerate enough and discrete enough to handle the conversation. Most of us, unfortunately, are sure as hell mature enough.

The underlying tone of this entire thread is one of concern. If anyone was able to state the simple fact that he was fine, this thread would close.

Et