A GRANDFATHER’S DREAM

Before I was born in 1947, both of my grandfathers had already passed away. Italian immigrants, they came to America with an incredibly strong work ethic–the ability to work hard and to never give up.

When my grandson Ryan was born in 2007, I was reminded that I never knew my grandfathers and wanted to establish relationships with my grandchildren that would transcend the usual, the methodical and the mundane. I thought it would be fun for Ryan and me to build a boat together.

Ryan was 7 when we started this project and 9 when we christened our finished craft, Ryan’s Club, an 8ft Chesapeake Light Craft Eastport Pram. We chose it because we were planning to use Ryan’s Club as a dinghy for our Catalina 400 Mark II sailboat.

At 7, Ryan was a quick learner and an enthusiastic worker. We worked together to complete the rough hull and by the spring of 2015, with the help of Ryan’s dad, we moved our work in progress into our garage.

Between school, work, karate lessons, work-related travel and other events, we managed to complete our boatbuilding project that year. We epoxied, sanded, glued, sanded, screwed, measured, sealed, sanded, primed, painted, varnished and sanded until we were finished. The only thing left to do was to christen her.

So, on April 17, 2016, in Dredge Harbor on the Delaware River in Riverside, NJ, Ryan’s sister, Ava, with the whole family looking on, christened our pride and joy. It was a beautiful, warm and sunlit day that none of us will ever forget.

I remembered my own grandfathers. I know they were watching us at work and during the christening and thinking that their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and now their great-great-grandchildren are carrying on their strong work ethic. — Frank Falcon