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An Assateague Story 2011
October 10, 2011

First a flash of golden light, then cascading brightness spills across the vast ocean surface towards the windswept shore of the barrier island...It's sunrise; we throw up our arms in celebration; a new day has begun.

data-cke-saved-src=/sites/default/files/trekkers1_1.jpgI begin to read from Genesis One, the national seashore of  Assateague Island  inspires me  to share the creation story with my students for our morning devotion.  I love the story, the order of events, the language  and imagery explodes my imagination. "And God saw that it was good"; I imagine a loving God with an all knowing look of satisfaction in knowing what has been created is indeed "Good" and yes, perfect!

I ask my students to recall something they made, maybe in school, something they were proud of  and how it  felt to look at it afterwards.  They begin to tell me stories of craft projects they made in middle school and when they gave them to their parents or loved  ones and how it made them feel happy.  Jailyne, a very engaging sophomore tells us about the canoe she made last year in Urban BoatWorks.   It  was a yearlong project that when she finished she launched onto the Cooper River.

 data-cke-saved-src=/sites/default/files/trekkers2_0.jpgShe told us about how it made her feel really proud of what she had accomplished  but the best part  was  being able to share her boat, first with her Mom and now her classmates when they paddled the western side of the Island on Chincoteague Bay alongside the Islands wild ponies.  Wow! I realize Jailyne just gave me the best interpretation of Genesis One I could ask for.   A verbose Old Testament scholar couldn't say it better.

Moments later several pods of porpoises, their recognizable dorsal fins surfacing as they seek precious air for the southward journey reveal themselves just beyond the surf.  I tell the students, "It is Good", we all agree!

Keep on Trekking,

Jim

An Assateague Story
October 4, 2011

Luis reached down and gently picked up the quivering Monarch.  The early morning air was crisp as our UrbanTrekkers gathered at the ocean’s edge for the October morning sunrise.  As Luis picked up the gentle and resilient butterfly, I was afraid it might be injured; Monarchs usually wait for the sun’s warmth before they venture out for their daily journey migrating to the Trans Volcanic Mountains outside Mexico City.  Later in the day, though, Goldenrods at the shore line will see hundreds of these passing travelers.

I watched as he held the little creature in his cupped hands and exhaled warm air onto the butterfly’s visibly shaking wings.  Luis told us he wanted to save the butterfly and bring it home to Camden to give to Grandmother.  I didn’t say anything, for I thought that this little creature was certainly in peril.  The Monarch clung to Luis’s shirt, absorbing his body warmth and gaining strength as the sun rose above the ocean horizon.

data-cke-saved-src=/sites/default/files/LuisMonarch.jpgI realized that this little guy just might be ready to travel.  I had to tell Luis that taking this butterfly home to Camden was the wrong direction for the Monarch to go: he needed to go South and we were heading North. I explained that God had a plan for this creature, a plan that didn’t line up with the plan Luis had envisioned. I shared how often that is the case in our lives and the plans we make.  Luis gave me a look of reluctant understanding as he again cupped the Monarch, raised his hands upwards and released our beautiful little friend to continue his miraculous journey to the winter sanctuaries in Michoacán.

 

If You Want to Build a Ship
September 26, 2011

 “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

It’s the first day of the new build season for Urban BoatWorks.  Jesus Castro, our Program Director, our team of volunteers and their students start the afternoon not by looking at blue prints or sorting through supplies of plywood, epoxies and tools, but rather with stories of adventure.  I watch as Vincent’s eyes grow wide sharing a story from his UrbanTrekkers expedition to the Florida Everglades.  He tells his classmates about a partially submerged alligator gliding slowly across the surface of Nine Mile Pond only feet away from his canoe.  Maria shares about her recent trip to Assateague Island, Maryland where she kayaked through coves on the back bay and paddled right up to wild ponies feeding on the grasses in the salt marsh.

Some of these students had never been in a boat, didn’t know how to swim, and were even afraid of the water, but they too were visibly excited by the stories of far off places and adventure told by their classmates.  Building a boat is a long and arduous project with lots of repetitive tasks that can wear down even the most serious of students.  Swimming lessons, sailing classes and paddling trips help to build confidence and stir the imagination of our young boat builders, helping them to see beyond blueprints and the haze of sawdust to imagine adventures of their own someday.

God Bless! 
-Jim

Boatbuild: Malibu Day 4
July 7, 2011

Good evening, friends! Well, sunday is over, we had an enjoyable day with church in the morning, (including a new -of course- video in the announcements) some time chatting with the youth group kids and then a couple hours of building. Yesterday was gruelling- long, long hours, but today, well, after three hours with the kids, there was nothing to do but watch epoxy dry. and so, we went to the beach. Tired as we all were, the waves and the frantic energy of the ocean re-energised us, as did the thought of real beds tonight (some kind friends have given us a home for the evening) and we were all eager to be in the ocean. Luis learned something of the fine art of boogie boarding, i learnt how to face plant into waves and Jesus showed us how to dive into the waves. The highlight had to be the dolphins though. right after we got out and were getting ready to head home, we spotted two dolphins frolicking in the waves right where we had been surfing. it was magnificent. Anyway, i’ll let Luis take over from here, and wish you all, all the very best. -Suzi

 

We are Reconcilers
June 24, 2011

Tim Dion, a professional surfboard shaper here in Malibu stopped by the shop today to check out what we were doing. Within minutes we had forgotten about the cups of epoxy curing in our hands as surfer wisdom poured out of his mouth. As it turns out, what we do in Camden and what we are doing here in Malibu are much more similar than ever realized. The area Camden now resides in began as prime waterfowl hunting and fishing grounds for the lenape people who would earn their keep on birch bark canoes. European immigrants (dutch, most likely) fell for the land for the same reasons and began imitating and re-imagining these double ended vessels to include sails, rowing and poling stations, birthing boats like the ducker, tuckup and railbird skiffs. As industry began to run our cities, Camden became a workingman’s mecca.. but not for railroads or automobiles... for boats (and phonographs and soup, of course). Ships would roll off of the New York Shipbuilding Corp. lines in south Camden to discover the unknown, map the uncharted, and devastate the non-compliant (sadly indeed).

All of these make me think that Camden has something to it... something greater than mere water access that causes people to build boats and fall for the rivers... as if the land itself yearns for it. Perhaps now it simply longs for a return to a home it once new.. the kind that was felt at the most recent boat launch on the Cooper River as 15 kids bounced toothy smiles off the most subtle wind swells. Malibu shares in Camden’s longing. Rumor has it that Malibu created surfing as we know it by being the first wave where someone turned down the face as opposed to simply riding towards shore. I believe it.. and if you were here, you would too. Surfrider beach (or Malibu Point as it was called during Malibu’s golden age of surfing beginning in the mid 20′s) has been credited with being the wave that has had the most effect on surfing’s popular image... that long, perfect, glistening tube... visible from miles up Malibu Canyon Road. Tom Blake’s legendary board (especially SUP) designs were built in driveways and garages all around this area through the thirties, forties, fifties and sixties until Malibu shifted gears. Once a wilderness for the redwood paddling adventurer, Malibu became a retreat community for those lucky few who could afford it. Though surfing is still huge here, we can feel that what we are doing here is something greater, something more important. It’s pulsing through the group of builders, growing in both numbers and excitement daily, and keeps us feeling as if we stumbled onto a goldmine. It seems that we Urban BoatWorkers, apprentices of the very boat that chooses us to build it, are once again in over our heads trying to reconcile a culture and a people to it’s land and it’s history... and I think it’s working.

This weekend we will sign our name on the board’s deck, not for vanity but for bookkeeping. These kids are making history in their city and 75 years from now when most of us are long gone these old school paddleboards may well live on adorning the wall of a themed local eatery or small gallery to forever tell the story of a bunch of wild locals who decided to go against the grain of their culture and honor, commemorate, their home. these boards may well outlive us... the most important boards I have are the ones that were made long before my time.

- Tim Dion

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