How did you hear about PSPG?
I grew up sailing and loving the water on my dad's 36' Hunter sailboat. His own father had been a merchant mariner in his youth, had sailed around the world, and had taught my dad seamanship on a sailboat he built up on Lake Huron. So I come by my fan-nautical-ism honestly.
In the Spring of 2018, while I was commuting into Center City, I noticed a "tall ship festival" being advertised. After work that day I decided to walk down to Penn's Landing to check it out. When I toured Gazela, one of the volunteers mentioned that it was Philadelphia's tall ship and that they were always looking for volunteers. By that point in time my dad had sold the sailboat and I was very much missing the feel of a deck beneath my feet.
Still, it wasn't until 2020 that I got back down to Penns Landing as a volunteer - thankfully nothing of note happened that year. I've been a part of the organization ever since!
What is your most memorable experience with PSPG?
Finally getting to sail on Gazela this past summer was a huge highlight. Because of my job, I kept having to miss the various sailing events, including Norfolk, and I was desperate to finally get underway on this fish boat that had been occupying my free time.
It was a surreal experience for me to be honest. To see the Delaware River from the water and to juxtapose the century-old ship under my feet with the industrial parks lining the water, the massive RORO unloading its cargo like so many ants from a hill, and the rust-riddled carcass of the SS United States looming nearby. It was an upending of everyday existence.
The same was true when we passed under the Ben Franklin Bridge - something I travel across and take for granted almost every single day -, suddenly I'm sailing underneath for the first time, and on a boat I love but had never left the dock with. It's a small experience compared to the more tenured volunteers' tales, but it made an impression on me. It was a trippy collision of the past and the present.
How has PSPG changed or impacted your life?
Easily the best part of the PSPG and my experiences with Gazela and Jupiter has been the community I've become a part of. This organization attracts an always eclectic, never boring kind of person - whether they're drawn to the romance of tall ships, the mechanisms of massive diesel engines, or the tradition of Old World craftsmanship - you know you're in for an interesting life story when a new volunteer walks aboard. I adore the people I have met through the PSPG and many of them have become my second family. You don't just learn skills or experience history when you join the Guild, you become part of a Fellowship.
I have a fond wintertime memory around Poplar’s wood stove during a potluck after the crowd had died down, listening to the instrument players and singers jam together while snuggled up with a cup of warm mulled wine in my hand. I have also learned new skills, like my two newest; eye splicing and whittling (so far I've completed a rudimentary fish).
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