Thirteen-year-old Wilson Meunier Mott is a rising eighth grader at Monsignor Clark School in Wakefield, RI. For his class service project, he had a corker of an idea: Sailing from New London to Stonington, CT in his Opti, solo, to raise funds for the New England Science & Sailing Foundation’s Fund a Student Scholarship Challenge, so that New London school kids can get time at NESS. I spoke with Wilson not long after he arrived at the NESS dock in Stonington, to a standing ovation from fellow students, and after his ice cream at The Dog Watch Café down the street.
Coop: Wilson, great work mate, Nicely done!
WMM: Thanks.
Coop: How was it?
WMM: Good. (Wilson’s mum told me he’s a lad of few words.)
Coop: How did you decide on this as a project?
WMM: I had to do a service project for my eighth-grade class. The school had us fill out a form, writing down our talents and interests. It had to be something that would help the community, and give others help in some way. I wrote down sailing.
I’ve been sailing at NESS since I was nine, and racing with them lately. They do fundraisers to pay for scholarships for kids from New London to come to come here and learn sailing and water things like surfing, and the science of the water.
Coop: Mark Zagol (Wilson’s Opti coach and Managing Director of Sailing & Operations manager at NESS) told me you went to him and said, “I have this idea but I’m not sure how it will work.”
WMM: Yes. Mark said he had to and speak with Spike Lobdell (Chairman and CEO) to make sure that was OK.
Coop: Because you were sailing under the NESS banner, they needed to know what you were planning? (I spoke with Spike, and he immediately said he thought it was a great idea.)
WMM: Yes.
Coop: How formed in your mind was this passage from New London to Stonington in your Opti when you spoke to Mark?
WMM: We knew it was going to be a sail from New London to here.
Coop: So, the first thing was a sailing Kaper, and the second was connecting the two communities.
WMM: Yeah.
Coop: Did you have to present your idea to the teacher in charge of your class projects? “I want to raise money for NESS – they do sailing lessons and science – so they can use it for scholarships.” Was there a list of things the project had to do, to mean, to be accepted by the school?
WMM: There had to be fifteen hours of community service, and five hours of helping other students with their projects. We had to present it to our Religion teacher, and they had to approve it. And they did.
Coop: What did he or she think of your idea?
WMM: They thought it was a good idea. They asked if they could come down and see…
Coop: And did they come down and watch?
WMM: No, they are on vacation.
Coop: Did Mark help you with the things you needed to plan for, to think about?
WMM: Mark helped with some things, but it was mostly my parents.
Coop: Tell me about the main things you had to think about.
WMM: We looked at the tides, to make sure it was going with us. We didn’t want to have no wind and try to sail against the tide. Then we looked at a chart, found the best route, took a pencil and drew a course. Yeah, that was what we did.
Coop: Where in New London did you start?
WMM: Burr’s Marina.
Coop: Yikes, that’s a couple miles up the Thames. How did you deal with the ferries blasting down the river?
WMM: I kept out of their way.
Coop: Fishers Island Sound is awash with rocks and reefs. Did you look at these elements, government marks and other hazards?
WMM: Yeah, we looked at the marks and what to stay away from.
Coop: Tell me how the fundraising for NESS was introduced into this Kaper. If the project is a “service” activity, raising funds must’ve been close to the top of the list of things to do…
WMM: That was the first idea, to raise money for NESS. Then we were thinking about how to do it, but NESS handled all of that, including making a webpage for us.
Coop: Back to the fifteen hours of service. How did you build that up?
WMM: I created and edited a video to promote the fundraising sail, I gave that to N.E.S.S., and I am doing another one for N.E.S.S. I also designed and made stickers and posters. I gave these out to people. I put a QR code on them, to the fundraising site.
Coop: The sail was what, three or four hours? The sail plus all this designing, crafting and creative work, all aimed at fundraising, all added up to twenty hours?
WMM: Well, five hours was for helping other students in my class with their projects.
Coop: What are some of the other projects your classmates are doing?
WMM: I am the first one to have completed my project. One of my friends is doing something to help kids get better. He is coaching kids in soccer. But otherwise, I am not sure.
Coop: Interesting. Two of you have developed service projects using your skills in and presumably passion for sports. Nice. As to the sail itself today, nice sunny day, light southerly, favorable current…seems pretty straightforward. Was there any time when you maybe thought, “This is not such a great idea?”
WMM: In the middle the wind died, like a lot, and at that point I did know if I was going to be able to finish.
Coop: OK, failing wind, so at some point the tide was going to turn…but sailing into adverse current is simply something that happens in sailing, so the lack of wind was more of a pain than a problem. Did you think that the drop in the wind was just temporary. Had you been looking at the weather forecast?
WMM: We had been looking at the weather for a few days. We knew it was going to be light.
Coop: Wilson, what’s the Next Thing on the list? Is there still a bit of Opti sailing left?
WMM: Opti season ended this week.
Coop: What do you see in your sailing future?
WMM: I am going to try and sail Optis one more year, then start sailing 420s next summer.
COOP: I saw some boats on the docks down there, very sporty looking numbers, low and lean with foils…
WMM: They are Quants.
Coop: Have you sailed those?
WMM: Yes, a couple times.
Coop: Are they pretty fast? Have you been able to steer it?
WMM: Yeah, they are pretty fast. I have steered twice.
Coop: You get on the foils?
WMM: We did not get on the foils while I was driving. I don’t think Mark would let me do that.
Coop: Ah, Mark was driving on the foils. How many people are on the boat when you sail it?
WMM: Yes, Mark steers on the foils. Usually about four or five.
Coop: How can you get more time on the Quant?
WMM: In the NESS Opti fleet, every Friday we can choose a different boat to sail.
Coop: What attracted you to the Quant?
WMM: It’s fast.
Coop: (Laughs) OK! Well Wilson, I’ve enjoyed learning about your Great Adventure. Thanks for sitting down with me.
WMM: OK, thanks.
Wilson Meunier Mott has raised $4,200 and counting for NESS with a solo Opti sail from New London to Stonington, Connecticut.
As this issue went to press, Wilson’s Sailing Adventure had raised $4,200 out of a goal of $5,000. I am not certain if his effort has a hard stop or not, but you can always donate to NESS at nessf.org. Spike Lobdell tells me $4,000 is a LOT of kids in scholarship money. Their website reports that $2,500 supports 75 students to participate in immersive marine science field excursions.
Thanks, Coop ■
