When I was a kid, I climbed the old maple tree in our front yard and sat in its high branches dreaming I was on a whaling ship sailing the seven seas seeking the great white one. Every kid has a dream.
Maybe Captain Ahab was not in your dream. Maybe your dream was to be an astronaut, the first woman on the moon, or to hit the winning run in the World Series, or win a million bucks in the lottery, or parachute from an airplane. Maybe you dreamed of being President of the United States … eh, maybe not. You start a bucket list, but as time goes by it seems as though it was written in invisible ink, your dreams vanish, and the real world takes the wind out of your sails.
There is one man whose dream has not evaporated. He dreamed of something big and set out to fulfill it. He dreamed of sailing around the world, but not in just any sailboat. Though he had never sailed before, he set out on an adventure few would start, much less complete. He would build his own boat … a big one. He cut down trees on the farm where three generations of his family worked, trees that he once climbed as a boy and began building his dream.
He was an adventurer from the start. He has traveled the world on foot, on skis and snowshoes, rock climbed, explored underground caves, canoed whitewater rapids and kayaked on the high seas. He has worked as a roofer and at a climbing gym and earned a master’s degree but, as he has said, he found that “the romantic notion” of building a sailboat that could take him “wherever the wind takes me” was very alluring.
Soon Steve Denette’s ultimate dream will become a reality beginning right here in Mattapoisett. An estimated 2,000-plus people will be descending on our little village to witness his dream, the Arabella, slide down our boat ramp and begin an adventure that 160,000 people around the world have been following on YouTube or reading about or hearing about on television.
After devouring books on wood boat building and with the help of friends, sailing aficionados … amateur and expert … skilled sailors, volunteers and pretty much the whole community of Granby, his landlocked hometown in western Massachusetts, Steve will soon set sail on the next phase of his adventure.
Why Mattapoisett, you may ask? Well, according to Annie B., a multitalented seafarer and communicator of the project, after plans to launch at Mystic Seaport fell through, they needed a port that could accommodate the many aspects of a boat launch and the many people expected to attend. Brownell Boats transported the yacht Victoria, which the project would decommission and use for parts, to Granby.
Thus, familiar with Mattapoisett and a perusal on Google Earth, our historic former ship building harbor seemed to be a perfect fit. Soon a friendly welcome from the harbormaster and positive interactions with the town administration, Mattapoisett was just the ticket.
Like the whaler in my youthful dream, the high seas beckon. On June 17, Steve Denette’s dream will launch. The name Arabella is derived from the Latin orabilis, which means “answered prayers.” If all goes well, Steve’s and all those dreamers with him will begin the “magical experience” he says he’s dreamed of. All he needs is a star to steer her by.
Bon Voyage.
Editor’s note: Mattapoisett resident Dick Morgado is an artist and retired newspaper columnist whose musings are, after some years, back in The Wanderer under the subtitle “Thoughts on ….” Morgado’s opinions have also appeared for many years in daily newspapers around Boston.
By Dick Morgado