Piers to Peers: Race to the Reef
East Boston boating groups come together to give a group of youth sailors a new and exciting experience.
A group of Piers Park Sailing Center students were granted a unique opportunity to take the helm of vessels much larger than they are used to and navigate them through the inner harbor and out to the islands in the second annual “Piers to Peers: The Race to the Reef” in East Boston.
Piers Park Sailing Center (PPSC) is an East Boston-based nonprofit organization with sailing programs for all ages and abilities. They are committed to providing accessible programming in Boston Harbor and have been empowering the community since 1998.
Piers to Peers is tailored for the Future Leader (FL) program at PPSC. This is an instructor-in-training and mentorship program for PPSC students that have learned to sail and are getting ready to be employed as instructors at PPSC. The FL program teaches skills including lesson planning, team building, and more.
Forrest Hardy is a co-founder of First Reef Sailing School and holds a US Coast Guard 50-ton Captain's license. Before starting his own business, he, too, worked at PPSC. He and First Reef co-founder Paul Sullivan decided it would be important to give back to their neighbors in East Boston and show the young sailors at PPSC that a lifelong career in sailing is possible. With PPSC, along with support from Sailtime and Powertime, Paul and Forrest were able to start the Piers to Peers tradition in East Boston. For the second year in a row, they have come together to give the young sailors experience aboard larger vessels. In these Piers to Peers sessions, FLs gain exposure to different boats and learn more about the potential career paths in sailing and the steps taken to achieve them.
The staff at First Reef, Sailtime, and Powertime all shared their stories with sailing and how they found unique and enjoyable careers on the water, sharing a common theme. As Brian Mosely of Sailtime and Powertime put it: "My biggest regret is that I didn't get started earlier." Piers to Peers is a great opportunity to teach youth not only the skills they need to feel comfortable on the water, but also all the different ways a future in sailing could look like should they choose to pursue it. Another former PPSC staff member, Therese Ohman, is an instructor at First Reef Sailing while also captaining the Adirondack in Boston. She shared her story of growing up loving sailing and going on to earn her 100-ton Master’s license and make a full-time career out of her passion.
"If I could give one piece of advice to my past self it would be to record all of your sea time," Forrest told the group of Piers Park students. As a former employee of Piers Park Sailing Center, he was able to log hours spent on the water to put towards his license. "It would have taken me a lot longer to get my Captain's license if I didn't record my sea time at Piers Park."
The FLs boarded the sailboats at Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina and worked together to raise the sails, navigate through the inner harbor, and make their way out to Spectacle Island. There, they anchored and rafted the boats together to enjoy an afternoon of fun. They ate hot dogs, swam in the harbor, and bonded over their love for sailing.
Learn more about Piers Park Sailing Center, First Reef Sailing School, Sailtime, and Powertime by visiting their websites.
