As Co-Chair of the Junior Sailing Program at Pequot Yacht Club in Southport, CT, Pam Toner has helped build a program regarded as one of the best in the country.

“I grew up in Topsfield, MA,” says Pam, who lives in Fairfield. “I’ve always loved sailing and being around boats. I moved to Boston after college and the Boston Sailing Center had just opened, so I started taking lessons in their Solings. I worked foredeck on my roommate’s C&C 33, and we did Antigua Sailing Week and the Monhegan Island Race. I sailed with Bill McDade’s family out of Oyster Bay and taught his daughters to do foredeck. I joined the Manhattan Yacht Club in 1986 and did a lot of J/24 racing, including the Worlds in Newport. I met my husband Steve at Manhattan Yacht Club and we chartered in Tahiti with The Moorings for our honeymoon.”

How many regattas have you run where you had as much fun – or more – than the competitors? Try adaptive sailing. The weekend of June 6-7, American Yacht Club hosted the First Annual Robie Pierce One-Design Regatta presented by Heineken. I was fortunate to have been a member of the organizing committee and served as PRO. The regatta was sailed in 22 specially adapted Ideal 18s provided by AYC, our cohosts Larchmont YC and Indian Harbor YC. As the disabled sailors had to remain in a seat while sailing, each adaptation was custom designed and built. Want to steer with your right hand? The skipper’s seat was to port and the crew’s to starboard. Buttons Padin and his artful craftsman from LYC put together and installed 24 sets of adaptations, leaving us an additional two for spare boats. Able-bodied crews (ABs) were provided for stability, safety and to perform functions that the sailors may not have been able to handle due to their disability.

The new sailing season is upon us and with that in mind there are some things a master of a vessel should be aware of when arriving from a foreign port of call to the State of Connecticut. One thing that recreational sailors may not know is the United States Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) work together everyday to enforce the laws and regulations that govern vessels and persons arriving at domestic ports from overseas. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is responsible for the entry of all persons entering the United States at land, sea, and airports. They work closely with the United States Coast Guard to ensure that vessel and personnel entering the United States are authorized to do so. Pursuant to 19 CFR 4.2, operators of small pleasure vessels arriving in the United States from a foreign port or place to include any vessel which has visited a hovering vessel or received merchandise outside the territorial sea, ARE REQUIRED to report their arrival to CBP immediately (see 19 U.S.C. 1433)

By Vivian Volovar

Illustrated by James A. Mitchell, Published by Flat Hammock Press, 32 pages, paperback $14.95

This book is about a lady named Vivian who catches lobsters in Fishers Island Sound and Eastern Long Island Sound. She wakes up before the sun comes up on summer mornings with a little help from her cat T.C. Vivian puts bait in her pots and rigs some buoys, and then she goes out on her 31-foot boat Andy’s Girl to catch lobsters. She hauls 125 lobster pots every day, all by herself!

When Vivian hauls up a pot, she opens it and picks out the lobsters. She measures each one with a gauge, and if they’re too small she puts them back in the water. She also throws back the “eggers.” Those are female lobsters that are carrying eggs under their tails. The eggs will hatch and the baby lobsters will grow. She uses a special banding tool to put rubber bands around the claws of the lobsters she keeps, so they can’t pinch the other lobsters… or her!

She also catches a lot of little fish, starfish, crabs and jellyfish – and sometimes seaweed – in the traps, and she returns all of those creatures to the sea. Vivian puts the lobsters in totes and sells them while her boat is tied to the dock at Abbott’s lobster restaurant in Mystic, Connecticut. Vivian’s friend Loretta, who has a pretty golden-colored dog named Annie, stops by to see if she had a good catch. Vivian knows what she’s doing and she works very hard, because it’s kinda hard to catch lobsters. I think it’s also hard to drive a boat.

I liked the pictures very much, because it looks like somebody painted them. If you want to learn about catching lobsters, you will enjoy reading Lobster Lady. Thank you.

Under Full Sail: Silent Cinema on the High Seas, a DVD collection from Flicker Alley, chronicles the early film history of the large wind ships.

The era of silent film coincided with the decline of the era of the large wind ships, and as a result there is surprisingly little early footage of these vessels. In an essay included with this collection, film scholar and U.S. Navy marine engineer John Stone points out that many of the vehicles of the newly minted 20th Century like the Wright Brothers’ experiments, early Zeppelins and the automobile were well-chronicled by some of the earliest filmmakers, while early film chronicles of wind ships are surprisingly minimal. With Under Full Sail, this gap has been narrowed considerably. The collection contains five films (or partial films.

I go camping a few times a year. There is usually a good sized group of us that heads out and we’ve been doing it for years. Without question, however, there is something always either missing from someone’s pack, broken, or worn out while in the woods. Being far from the convenience store, your own bed or even the first aid station is okay if you’re prepared – and luckily, there’s usually a person in the group who’s able to turn a bad situation into a good one. My friend Chance, for example, is always ready for the “what if,’ and, (unlike DeNiro in The Deer Hunter) willing to lend his spare boots to even the most forgetful companion. Just this spring, one of our co-campers forgot her lantern fuel. Maddy had come straight from work, and during the whirlwind of fighting through traffic on the way, she forgot to stop. It was a simple oversight, but had she been camping alone, she would’ve had only the light of the campfire. Billy, another person that camps with us, continually shows up with the bare minimum, expecting that he’ll be provided for. Everyone has gotten by over the years, but I think Billy is taking an unnecessary risk. Chance was prepared, Maddy thought she was, but wasn’t, and Billy’s a moron.

I’ve written variations of this subject several times, but I figure it can never be overdone.

Junior sailors are a special group, and they need proper care and feeding for them to flourish. Do the wrong thing, and we are only creating new golfers and tennis players.

Let’s start with the real beginners — 8 and 9-year old Optimist sailors. Why must they sail in their own boat, all alone, from day one? They want to laugh and giggle and talk. Who cares if they have two in the boat? If that is more fun, then let them do it. When they are ready to singlehand, they’ll let you know. Make it fun.

Then we move along to Opti racing. It’s not for everyone. If a child does not want to race, don’t force the issue. This applies to instructors and parents alike. Perhaps have them come to a regatta and get them out on a spectator boat. When they see their friends enjoying themselves they may want to join in the fun at the next regatta. If not, so what? Make it fun.

A Family’s Epic Journey

Audiobook narrated by Jaja Martin for Good Old Boat magazine

14.2 hours - $25

We thoroughly enjoyed the latest audiobook sent by our friends at Good Old Boat magazine. Into the Light is an unabridged recording of Dave & Jaja Martin’s book of the same title, which was originally published in 2002. The Martins, whose articles have appeared in Cruising World, set sail with their three children (all under the age of seven) in a 20-year old, 33-foot steel sloop: “We named her Driver because we hoped the boat would drive us to new places.” Their three-year voyage brought them North Carolina to Bermuda, Iceland, Scotland, the Faeroe Islands, Norway and north of the Arctic Circle to the island of Spitzbergen.