Jacob at Eight

Jacob Gilchrist, 8, fishing.

Long ago I forgot what it is like to be eight.   Eight is a busy time, a curious time… and eight is full of energy.  I was reminded of this when eight-year-old Jacob Gilchrist and his grandmother, Michele Burke, made a recent trek from Penns Grove, NJ to Galena, Maryland to visit Imagine.

It didn’t matter that the skies were grey and the temperatures only in the 50’s.  Jacob was on an adventure from the moment he exited the car.   Immediately he was in the land of Lilliput.  Towering sailboats, dry-docked and blocked, with masts reaching even higher made an obvious impression.  Jacob said that the boats made us all look like mice, so small.  

Ed quickly explained that sometimes there is as much sailboat under the water as above because of the living spaces.  With that, Jake was eager to see what Imagine had to offer.   I was eager too, but I wanted to get out of the damp cold air.  “Come on Jacob, let’s go,” I said as he stopped to look at each boat docked along the pier.

Jacob, Ed, Michele

As we carefully made the transition from the dock stepping up to the deck of Imagine, Jacob said it was going to be easy and scrambled aboard hopping into the cockpit.   We explained that a cockpit was kind of like a back porch and to enter the boat one had to go through a door called a companionway.   We continued that one should always make their way down the steep steps facing towards the steps while holding on to the handrail because a wave might knock one off balance.   On cue a wake from a powerboat rocked Imagine.   The look on Jacob’s face…priceless.

His disappointment was obvious when we told him we would be sitting at the dock because of the weather. We promised to invite him another time for a ride.

For a while Ed and Jacob explored the marina.  Lines hanging off the docks into the water captured the young boy’s curiosity.   Ed explained that some people hang crab pots off the docks.  They pulled up a pot to check and were rewarded with not only four large Blue crabs, but also a foot long catfish.  Of course the pot went back into the water to wait for its owner.

With Jacob around, nothing went unnoticed.  Why so many lines?  What do dock lines, spring lines and other lines do? What is a spinnaker pole?  How do you pull the sails up and down? 

What is a rudder?  Finally, how do you get the rudder to turn back and forth leads to removing the cover from the helm?  “Wow, that’s the steering wheel?  It’s big,” Jacob exclaimed as he moved next to Ed and put both hands on the four foot teak and stainless wheel.  Of course, the next question was, “How do you turn on the engine?” 

When Jacob said wistfully, “I always wanted to drive a boat and fish from a boat,” our resolve to stay docked weakened.                What the heck… how hard is it to take off the lines?

Next thing we know, Jacob is helping to secure the lifelines. He helps to pull up the fenders festooned in a bright orange lifejacket.   He watches everything.   Imagine, for the first time since early June backs out of a slip.  Jake stands next to Ed at the helm and grins.  “I always wanted to do this.”  We all grin.

Ed maneuvers Imagine into the middle of the river and tells Jake that it is his turn.  He explains to Jake about the depth finder.   “When the number gets lower than six-feet then you have to come back towards the middle.   If it gets to three-feet, we’re parked and you will have to get out and shovel,” Ed said with a wink.

Jake’s head bobbed and moved side to side as tried to look around the life-raft, mast and other boat blind spots.  “How do you see?” he asked.   “We usually sit on one side or the other so the mast isn’t really in the way,” Ed replied.

When Jacob said excitedly that he always wanted to fish from a boat, an old spinning rod appears.   With youthful optimism and faith, Jacob casts over and over knowing each time he was going to get a record-breaking fish.     Fish jumped around us, but there were no biters on this cold and grey day.

Jacob, with serious concentration etched on his face, steered us back towards the dock.   Ed took over as we entered the slip.  Jacob watched me and grabbed the spare boat hook. 

As I grabbed the starboard lines, he snagged the lines off the port side pilings as if he had been doing it for years.   The kid is a natural.  He remembered the spring lines and on his own, deployed not only the fenders, but also the fender-boards.

It was time for the day to end, but not quite.   Jacob just had to show his grandmother the neatest thing.   We hiked to the other side of the marina where he proceeded to pull up the four-foot crab pot to show us the treasure inside.    As he moved to turn on a faucet to wash his hands at the end of the dock, water sprayed wildly.  Jacob jumped quickly, only getting a “little wet.”

Needless to say, the day was one of smiles and warmth that was not weather related.   It was full of eight-year-old energy and inquisitiveness.  I think we might have helped open the door for a future sailor.  Jacob will be invited back to visit us on Imagine one day… and next time we will catch that fish.  

We were both surprised and delighted to receive the note below a week later.  “Sharron and Ed, Thank you so much for taking me out on your boat!  I learned so much and had an awesome time.  And I really liked driving the boat!  Your friend, Jacob.”   You are welcome, Jacob!

Provisioning Equals Scavenger Hunt

Provisions waiting for space

Provisioning Imagine to sail off and down the Chesapeake Bay in mid-October has turned into a nautical scavenger hunt.  So far I’ve found affordable stainless fittings and setscrews in California, solar panels in Florida, and a micro sim card cutter, Wi-Fi booster and fabric protector from Amazon. The list continues with Barkeeper’s Friend (in liquid), 3M pads, teak finish and small coffee filters for an old time percolator.

The list changes daily. I’ve crossed off items and added others as projects are finished on Imagine and space opens up store expensive or hard to find items we will need when we visit the Bahamas this winter.

One corner of the living room looks as if someone is opening a paper goods store.  Thirty-six rolls of paper towels, 48 rolls of toilet paper, three 150 count packages of napkins, paper plates, freezer bags, and foil stay stacked until the work on Imagine is finished and the items can be stowed under berths and behind settees.

Provisioning is tedious, but not hard.  It amounts to an extremely long shopping list based on how long our cruising season will be, where we will spend most of our time, and what kind of shopping will be available when we go ashore.

In the States almost everything is easy to pick up after taking the dinghy ashore.  It is the toting of items from the store back to the dinghy that is tough.  Carrying four bottles of cranberry juice a half-mile from the reminds me that I’m not a weight lifter. That doesn’t include the other three bags of groceries.  The value of a luggage cart we picked up for $4 at a thrift shop in Marathon three years ago suddenly becomes worth its weight in gold.

When heading out of the country I provision for the holidays.  Canned pumpkin, cranberry sauce and gravy mix helps when making a traditional holiday meal.  The list also includes walnuts, craisins, chocolate chips and pecans for the holiday boat cookies I make to share each year. 

Chips, sodas and other snacks are important for quick beach gatherings or visiting someone’s boat for happy hour.  Chips and crackers can cost up to $7 for a bag or box in the Bahamas. 

Rum is inexpensive, but soda is not.  We shop the sales and end up with 12 to 15 boxes of cola and other soft drinks as we head offshore.  Purchasing these items now saves a lot of money later.

Once my list is somewhat complete, I look and see what I already have aboard.  From there it is easy to figure how much I need to replenish.  I ask myself how much of an item I use in a week, or a month.

Since we are going to be gone for nine months, I calculate how much dish soap, laundry soap, toiletries and other items we will need during that time.  The same formula is used for first aid supplies; my husband manages to get a lot of boo boos.

Last year we took 15 boxes of cereal, four boxes of instant oatmeal and three boxes of pancake mix. Everything that comes in a box or bag is removed from its packaging and placed in zipper bags.  This step keeps bugs from getting into the boat and food. Secondly, it takes up less room. 

These items are then placed in two large plastic containers with lids; one is for baking and snacks, the other for dinner items such as mixes, taco shells, and pasta. When packed the containers are secured with bungee cords in the quarter berth.

Canned and jarred items such as fruit, vegetables, soups, sauces, pickles and honey are stacked in lockers about the settees.  Old clean socks placed around some of the jars keeps the glass from knocking when seas get rough.

The freezer on Imagine is small.  I individually package and flatten center cut pork chops, chicken and ground beef for later use.  With careful layering, I can store up to five weeks of dinners in the freezer.

Shelf stable milk, yeast for making bread, baking soda and vinegar also finds a home on Imagine. The $2 gallon of vinegar sells for $8 in the Bahamas.  On Imagine vinegar is mostly used for cleaning the head and sinks.  It also can unfreeze rusty locks when soaked overnight as well as clean the salt off the portholes. 

While we take most of our provisions with us, we still must purchase some items such as dairy products and meats as we go along. When it comes to fresh produce, it is hit and miss when provisioning in foreign ports. Apples last a long time so, I will buy extra to take along.  For some reason potatoes and bananas do not last long on the boat.  I buy those items as needed as well as onions, peppers and lettuce  

As the time for departure nears, I’m making a list and checking it twice.  The scavenger hunt continues as I search as a new grabber tool (to pick up items Ed drops in the bilge), an oven thermometer, solder wire and an unlocked Wi-Fi hotspot modem.  Wish me luck.                    

Song of the Sails

Ed's new sport, dock boarding. 

Imagine's sails want to stretch and open to the wind; to blow out the spiders and mud dabbers that found summer homes and decided to stay.

The canvas has been cleaned and treated.  The toe rail, hand rails, boom cradle and other teak trim sanded and coated with three coats of natural teak sealant.  The hull has been washed, chainplate covers re-bedded and three out of seven starboard portholes frame covers tightened and re-caulked.

The leak over the starboard settee seems to have dried out.  The rain must have been coming in through a loose frame and trickled down through the side of the cabin top and into the main cabin. 

Ed has installed the solar panels. They are cranking out the juice.   This will allow us to run the watermaker longer and we won't have to recharge the batteries everyday as the amp hungry refrigeration keeps our food cool.  Maybe we’ll crank out enough water that I won’t have to use the spray bottle to rinse the dishes.   One’s hand can cramp quickly rinsing a sink full of dishes using that route.

We are now working on the stainless, removing every minute bit of rust that will reappear overnight once Imagine ventures into salt waters.  The dull brown colored brass lanterns, bells and weather instruments now shine golden reflecting light and brightening the main salon.

The inside port light gaskets were dry rotting.  After several days, Ed thought he found a supplier to purchase rubber gasket seals for the nearly 30-year old porthole hatches.   There are 15 gaskets to replace. The rubber has degraded and rain seeps in no matter how tight we dog down the port windows.

The T-shaped rubber gasket seal has a wide base and a thin T-top.  Three suppliers sent samples. None worked.  In the bottom of a locker I found eight feet of the seal left over from owners past, or from when the boat was new.  The two worst gaskets have been replaced.  It takes 42 inches of gasket for each of the larger portholes.  The search continues.

Getting ready for the fall exodus is always a project, this year it seems to be going as well as can be expected.   Ed only lost one screw overboard while installing the solar panels.  

I caught the cleaning supplies, and myself, from falling off the floating dock section when a powerboat went speeding past the marina.    I was sitting on the floating platform cleaning the waterline. I only kept from going overboard by grabbing the line that tethered the dock to Imagine as huge wakes came rushing in, rocking the dock as I anticipated getting wet.

I was more prepared the next three times the boat sped past.   It appears that the Western side of the Sassafras River drawbridge has gotten too congested so ski boats, wakeboard boats and powerboats have migrated to our quieter Eastern end of the river.  

For reasons that I can't comprehend there are no slow wake zone buoys on the Eastern side of the bridge.   That gives the weekend warriors and water idiots free reign to do what they want.   Meanwhile, the boats in the marina rock and roll and bang against the docks.  I hate to think that boaters are that inconsiderate. I prefer to think that they are just totally clueless.

Now that I've ranted as politely as I'm able, I have to say that the weather has been beautiful this fall for working on Imagine.   During a quiet moment, mid week, we watched as a pair of bald eagles soared overhead. Sunsets are beautiful and life is good.

October has arrived.  Nights have gotten cooler.  The leaves are beginning to blush with the light reds and oranges that will get brighter with each cool evening.

In the morning Ed turns on the Single Sideband Radio and checks in along with other boaters from Canada to Florida.  On one particular day friends on Dyad were in Beaufort, North Carolina; Mon Ami docked in Oriental; Anania was anchored on the southern Chesapeake Bay and Perseverance 2 was on the Wicomico River.   Like us they are all heading south.

Each day Ed checks in. “Imagine, Sassafras River, Galena, Maryland for 21 more days,” he reported a couple of days ago.   My heart skipped a beat and I wondered how the summer on land had passed so quickly.

Imagine is scheduled to set sail on October 28.   Family obligations will keep us in port a bit longer than planned.  I will miss my family, but I'm looking forward to sailing down the Bay as Imagine once again spreads her wings.

Quiet Heroes in Our Midst

In today’s conflicted world it is easy to get mired in the negative messages.  Despite the uncertain economy, unrelenting crime and the concern over world events, there is much to celebrate.

Peggy Sparks Rappa
 Witches Night Out 2011

Over the last couple of weeks, three people have made me stop and notice the positive.  All ignored pessimism and moved forward to make a difference, to change life for the better.   All have taken different paths, but all have created ripples.  Those ripples continue to move outward reaching places these quiet heroes have yet to imagine.

Recently my cousin, Peggy Sparks Zubry Rappa, began a simple task to look for a positive thought each morning and send it to everyone on her e-mail list.  That solitary act has brightened my morning.  I look forward to reading the short simple message she sends each day. She said that she began the project after watching a program on PBS.  The speaker talked about healing, happiness and the outside forces that affect one’s life.   Rappa decided to begin a project to create a positive spin on life. 

The task was to choose a support group from her e-mail list of at least 21 people.  Each morning she would send an email to with a good wish or thought for 21 days… or forever.   Rappa said that was hard at first to remember to get up and do it. 

She didn’t expect her small project to create ripples.  I can’t help but respond each morning with comment and reaffirmation.  I smile as I send a quick reply into the electronic divide.  And I’m not the only one.

My cousin has faced her share of challenges in life; most recently, the loss of her husband and father. She watched her mother fight a long battle with cancer and watched helplessly as her only child died within his first year of life.  She is creative, smart and talented. She cares about others.  

In her quiet way she is making a difference.  She chooses to look at the world in a positive light. Peggy Sparks Zubry Rappa (Margaret L. Sparks, when she paints) is a quiet hero in our midst.

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Robin Buoncuore is a fighter.  Some might call her a spitfire.  I call her the Cat Lady.

Robin has dedicated her life to find a way to spay and neuter as many cats as possible.  She has taken sick and abandoned cats into her home.  She nurses them back to health.  She finds homes for as many as she can.

Buoncuore recruits foster families to temporarily house cats until adoptions can be arranged.

Ten years ago, after rescuing a newborn kitten she named Maddie, Buoncuore created Maddie & Friends, Inc. a non-profit organization.

To Buoncuore, Maddie represented the tragedy of the thousands of unwanted kittens born annually to unsprayed cats.  Many of the unloved cats end up in shelters where up to 80 percent are euthanized.

Maddie & Friends offers spay and neuter clinics to reduce the number of unwanted and abandoned cats.  Before the non-profit became a reality, Buoncuore and her husband used personal funds to spay or neuter many cats in local feral colonies near their Quinton home.

Buoncuore is passionate when educating and encouraging others about the importance of spay and neuter as a humane way to reduce abused and abandoned animals. 

Maddie & Friends is an all-volunteer organization.  No one is paid. Funds are raised through donations, fundraising and grants.

Buoncuore wouldn’t consider what she does as special.  In fact she gives credit to the dedicated volunteers and friends who faithfully support the organization. Robin Buoncuore is a quiet hero in our midst.

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Dan Galey had a dream.  He and his wife, Nancy, realized how hard it was for parents of a child diagnosed with autism to find the support, resources and knowledge they needed to help their children.

Galey shared his dream with others.  He planned and strategized. From the vision a grant was written and awarded. With the support of friends and volunteers, the dream became reality in 2008 when the Salem County Center for Autism opened in Pennsville.

The dream began with a grassroots effort.  As individuals came together the dream for a center became more organized. 

The center would be able to bridge gaps for services not available from other agencies.   It would provide current information on legal services, healthcare professionals, schools and programs.   The Center would offer workshops and socialization events for parents and children.

Galey was aware of how difficult it could be to navigate State, private and healthcare organizations. 

He, and a team of dedicated supporters, created the SCCA to work as an alliance that would be staffed with qualified and experienced individuals.  Finally they could provide a one-stop approach to therapies and treatments for Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Recently the SCCA moved to its new home at the old Kurland Pharmacy site.  The larger facility will allow for expansion of services.

Like Sparks and Buoncuore, Galey does not take credit for leading the way, for making a difference.

Dan Galey is a quiet hero in our midst.

Look around… quiet heroes are everywhere.  They are creating community gardens, delivering meals to homebound seniors or working with troubled youth.  They are nurses, social workers and law enforcement officers.  How many quiet heroes do you know?