How many times have you wondered, “Why it is that I have a boat?”. And then, one evening, lying at anchor with the sun glowing red on tranquil waters, you are presented with an answer. Or that sensation, when you first establish your boat as a real racing contender, may deliver an answer. Or…, well the list can go on and on. As for me and some others, we recently found a reason we had never considered – the glow that comes from bringing happiness to someone whose life’s physical and mental challenges would otherwise have denied him or her the joy of sailing.
The annual Easter Seals Cruise for Kids took place this year on July 24 at HarborView Marina & Yacht Club in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. In the Cruise for Kids, local boaters donate their boats and their time to take special needs children between the ages of 5 and 18 and their families for a cruise around Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and the Patapsco River. The children receive t-shirts, toys and hand-made blankets and they and their families enjoy a picnic lunch ashore with the captains and their crews.
This year three boats, Capriccio, Hideaway and Peregrine, representing the ever-active Chesapeake cruising club Sailing Chavurah, participated in the Cruise for Kids and “signed on” three challenged kids and their families. The boats were crewed by additional members from Sailing Chavurah. Even though the day started drizzly, overcast and blustery, skippers and crews were told at the mid-morning briefing that, in the many years the event has been held, the sun never failed to come out – a bold prediction during a time of gloomy skies. Sure enough, by the time the first of the 70 kids left the dock, the sun had come out and the wind had moderated. The ensuing sail proved, for each of us, to be one that we will ever keep in our treasury of fond memories.
It is a sobering thought that so many of the children might not ever again steer a boat, pull a sheet or just exult in the feeling of being on a boat moving at speed through the water. But your spirits are lifted each time you know again that you, your crew and your boat gave them their day in the sun.
To find out more about the Cruise for Kids, how to join us for next year’s big event, and to learn more about our club, contact Gene Novak at novagene@comcast.net