The swell of Chris Kilmer’s passion is audible when he talks about the ocean. He reminisces about the thrill of crashing through giant waves in a one-person sloop. You can almost taste his devotion, like saltwater spray on the lips.

“There’s a moment on the cusp between fear and fascination,” the Westwood artist says. “When you’re one with the waves and wind, you don’t feel much better than that.”

“I’ve always had this passion with sailing vessels,” he says. “When I was a kid growing up on the block, all the other kids were building model cars and planes, and I was building sailing ships out of plastic.”

Over time, Kilmer’s model boats have grown up with him: The Robin, an exact scale replica of a circa 1867 Gloucester fishing schooner, is 10 1/2 feet long and 8 1/ 2 feet tall. It’s named after his first daughter.

The vessel will be moored at Fields Gallery – a complement to the artist’s photographs – during the Downtown Friday Gallery Walk. Kilmer embarked on the quest to build The Robin without training as a shipbuilder, carpenter or woodworker. It was a voyage of discovery to create the ship of his dreams.

All he needed was passion, he says. But he may have had some help from his genes.

Though he didn’t know it when he was a boy, Kilmer discovered later in life that his ancestors may have spent more time at sea than in port.

“I don’t have a family tree,” he says matter-of-factly. “I have a mainmast with yards and spars of my forefathers who were whalers, merchants and naval commanders. When I did this show, my DNA was pretty much calling to me. In fact, my last name, Kilmer, is a Dutch word that means ‘follower of the sea.'”

It wasn’t until he was attending school in California, however, that Kilmer’s legacy was fully expressed.

“When I was going to Orange Coast College, every Friday I went out on a sailboat all day. I’d take it out on the ocean and go as far as my guts would let me,” Kilmer says. “That was part of my DNA code that came to life. You do it for two years, it gets ingrained in you.”

Kilmer’s love of the sea runs so deep that he had to adapt when he moved to Kansas soon after finishing his education. To satisfy his longing for the sea, he began construction on a 4-foot replica that was to become The Robin’s unfinished prototype. Whereas some enthusiasts are happy building ships in bottles, Kilmer’s ambition was much greater. He stopped his project because the original was too miniature. After acquiring specially enlarged plans, he began laying out the ship that would become his 10 1/2-foot Robin.

“I don’t like small vessels,” he says. “I like that mode of fantasy when you feel like you’re walking on the deck almost.”

Kilmer finally relived the rapture of his wave-riding days with some clever camera work that he says has been used by Hollywood for some time. By mounting the camera on The Robin’s hull, he was able to create the illusion of being on the deck.

He even attached a motor to the ship, possibly making it one of the largest remote-controlled sailing ships ever built – certainly in the Midwest.

But The Robin is more than just a toy to Kilmer; the vessel has carried him successfully to his destination. Now it’s for sale, perhaps to bear someone else to their dreams.

Kilmer has already embarked on a new voyage with the construction of another ship, the next entry in his ongoing homage to the power of the sea and those daring enough to brave it.

“A boat is a sacred vessel to me. It’s a transition between earth and water,” he says. “It’s a sculpture, and it’s the history of mankind’s dreams. The vessel is a thing of majesty.”