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Nearly ready to set sail: SoundWaters schooner gets a fresh coat of paint

By John Nickerson
Staff Writer

March 21, 2006

NORWALK -- With another season's harvest of barnacles and rust scraped away, the crew of SoundWaters yesterday got busy slapping red paint onto the hull of the nonprofit's floating classroom.

With a week of rust-busting behind them, the crew is aiming for a Friday launch of the 85-footer at Norwalk Cove Marina next to Calf Pasture Beach.

Second-year co-captain Justin Cathcart, 29, said he looks forward to launching SoundWaters into its 15th season of teaching kids about Long Island Sound after landing the three-masted sharpie on the asphalt in November.

"I'm ready to go out sailing again. I haven't been sailing since last November," Cathcart said.

The green-hulled boat, which took 8,000 adults and kids aboard during last year's sailing season and went as far as Milford and Port Washington, N.Y., is getting a few equipment upgrades this year.

Cathcart yesterday helped put together the boat's steering system after a new generator had been installed. SoundWaters also will get a new global positioning system, radar and depth-sounding system, he said.

Co-captain Shane Walden, who is entering his third season as skipper of the 48-passenger boat, said he wants to see kids aboard as soon as possible.

"I always look forward to taking kids out that don't get a chance to get out on the Sound," Walden said.

Three new female crew members from Washington, Oregon and Missouri have been working on the boat bottom since they arrived a week ago.

Sarah Shewell, 23, who graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in environmental science, said she can't wait to begin learning how to sail.

Alison Dodge, 24, who grew up in Tacoma, Wash., will be a deckhand and educator.

Meredith Helfrich, 23, from St. Louis, another deckhand and educator, said she wants to get out on the water and begin learning about the Sound.

The three, who will live aboard the boat as soon as it hits water, soon will know about chilly New England spring weather.

Just after the boat was put in the water last year, 3 inches of snow fell on SoundWaters. For posterity, a picture was snapped of a rolled-up snowman on deck.

The three have been living at the Sheraton Hotel in Stamford since they arrived. Shewell is considering turning down the thermostat at the hotel to acclimate to the less-civilized temperatures aboard the ship.

"It's going to be cold compared to the Sheraton," Shewell said with a laugh as she brushed red bottom paint on the keel.

Copyright © 2006, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.

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