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GREENSBORO -- Look at the lines. At least that's what Gary Lowell and David Young will tell you.

They'll stand underneath the hull of that 51/2-ton beast and talk in hushed tones about the varnished wood, the polished bronze, the 70-year-old craftsmanship.

To them, it's not just a bunch of sticks jacked up nearly 12 feet in the air . To them, it's a living, breathing thing. They call her "a beautiful old girl." And after four years of work, she's about to take her next breath.

Today, they'll christen her Lorelei. Next week, they'll take her to the coast, where Lorelei, a 30-foot sailboat built without a power drill, will take to the water once again.

Lowell, a wooden-boat builder, found her four years ago in a beat-up boat yard in New Bern . He spotted her - a weather-pummeled, pirate-looking ship rotting in the water - and didn't want to see her headed to the other end of a chain saw or a torch.

But unlike the other four wooden boats he discovered in that boat yard, he didn't buy her. No, he called Young, one of his customers, a 59-year-old man who had been sailing since he was a kid.

"David, I found this old boat at the marina, and it's just sitting there going to waste," Lowell told Young. "You need to stop and look at it."

Young did. Then he called Lowell back.

"Gary, I bought the boat."

That's how it began. Four years ago. The restoration of the boat named Lorelei, a sailboat built in Chicago in 1939.

Lorelei was restored in a large warehouse up East Market, where the sweet smell of tobacco from Lorillard often hangs in the air. Lowell and his employees worked on Lorelei nearly every working day for four straight years.

They sanded it, varnished it, reconstructed the hull, replaced the deck and the planks. They even built new tools to replace parts because 21st-century technology doesn't make up for 20th-century ingenuity.

Young was there, too. He's a retired business executive who now runs two health-related businesses with his wife. So, when he had time, he'd be at the warehouse, sometimes sitting on a bucket, getting Lorelei ready to wrestle the wind.

"You stand back and look at it, and it has just great lines," Young said the other day. "And the craftsmanship. They didn't have battery-powered drills or laser beams. These guys were artists, and these guys here are artists, too."

Lowell's employees have included a bass teacher, a bathroom restorer, a few UNCG students and a guy who moves boxes for UPS. They come to learn from Lowell, a master boat builder, in his big classroom.

He teaches one week every summer at the WoodenBoat School in Maine. But he works on boats here in Greensboro. This is the place of his family, his friends, his high school, his college and his last employer, WFMY.

He started as a production assistant, and after 15 years , he worked his way up to director of "The Good Morning Show" at a time when the show ruled the mornings.

But in 1993 , he left. His wife, Sarah Ladd , ventured out to teach school. He ventured home to wash clothes, make dinner and help raise his stepson, Aaron . He became Mr. Mom. He also became Mr. Boat Builder.

He turned his backyard hobby into a full-time avocation.

Four spots later, he leases a large warehouse behind Carolina Loom Reed where he and three other employees work on restoring five to six wooden boats a year.

Lowell has boat building in his blood.

His grandfather built boats in Maine, and one of his ancestors began building wooden boats in Massachusetts in 1793 . The company is still in business.

Now, Lowell teaches broadcasting part time at UNCG, his alma mater. But when he's not on campus, he's up East Market, in his warehouse, losing track of time as he works on another wooden boat.

He'll be there again today . He'll put a silver 50-cent piece from 1939 in the mast step - an old maritime tradition - and lift a glass of champagne to celebrate the next breath of the girl named Lorelei.

Contact Jeri Rowe at 373-7374 or jeri.rowe@news-record.com