Underway Column Editorial by Editor Bill Sisson | Soundings Online Column

Celebrating small boats on a long summer’s day

The three of us were running west through Vineyard Sound on one of those spectacular days that appear after a cold front has rumbled through. The air was scrubbed clean, and a freshening westerly had turned the sound into a rolling pasture of whitecaps and spray.

Proudly 'pulling twine' on her family's workboat

Corey Wheeler Forrest gets up each morning at 4 a.m., packs lunches for her two children, resets the alarm clock so her husband will roll out on time and then drives to Sakonnet Point in Little Compton, R.I. By 6 o’clock she is aboard the 65-foot fishing boat Maria Mendonsa, steaming toward a floating fish trap, where she works alongside her father, two brothers and 10 or so other strong-backed men hauling fish nets — “pulling twine,” as it is called — from one of three specially built 30-foot aluminum double-enders.

Sunset came too soon for a fishing friend

“Fishing on the reefs is good in the evening. We fished twice last week for 26 bass from 25 to 37 inches, plus the first blue of the year. We could give that a whack and then head down the island after dark if you have the time?”
— email from Tim Coleman

Comments (1)

Has our maritime culture forgotten the Golden Rule?

It is a long-standing tradition of the sea to stop and render assistance to fellow seamen in distress. That’s simply the right and moral thing to do.

And the mariner who today comes to the aid of his sailing brother knows he might well find himself in dire straits tomorrow and be in need of a similar helping hand. That’s the way of the sea.

Maine-built boats find a home with Japanese fishermen

I stood next to boatbuilder Stacey Raymond at the Maine Boatbuilders Show, talking about deadrise, Down East boats and a fleet of special 19-footers he recently built for some very special clients.
Raymond, the owner of General Marine Inc. of Biddeford, Maine, spent the winter building 20 composite boats for fishermen in Japan whose lives were turned upside down by the devastating tsunami of a year ago

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William Sisson, Editor

A 1981 Phi Beta Kappa journalism graduate, Bill has been writing about boats for more than two decades. His boating travels have taken him from the Persian Gulf to the Baltic Sea, and always back home to Little Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. As editor, Bill is responsible for planning and executing the publication's boating coverage each month, and his Under Way column starts each issue. Bill has been with Soundings for 20 years and in 1997 won the Moulton H. "Monk" Farnham Award for Excellence in Editorial Commentary.

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