Skipjack Wilma Lee

CRUISES-
The Wilma Lee makes several trips out every week of the sailing season. You can be aboard for a sunset cruise or special events cruise by contacting Captain Rob or Sundae at the Black Schooner Shop just at the end of the dock in the Community Square, by calling 252-928-SAIL, by emailing to robswindfall@gmail.com or by visiting the website www.schoonerwindfall.com.

BACKGROUND-
One of only a few remaining Chesapeake Bay Skipjacks, the Wilma Lee is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2002, the previous owner, Mr. Herb Carden, of Sandy Point, Virginia, along with Master Shipwright John Morganthaler began a multi-year project to restore the Wilma Lee. And in the spring of 2012, Carden and his wife Liz donated the Wilma Lee to our non-profit organization, Ocracoke Alive, so that, according to Carden, she might be "...used for educational purposes to all the young and old who might have the privilege to sail on her." One of Carden's special hopes for the Wilma Lee is that it will inspire young people to learn a love of boats and boating.

Though skipjacks are historically associated with the Chesapeake Bay oystering industry, they eventually made their way south, into the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds. By the early 1900's, North Carolina boat builders were copying the famous design. Skipjacks are a single purpose boat, designed and built for oyster dredging, though Carolina watermen also used these boats, which they often called "oyster sloops" for harvesting she-crabs and hauling cargo. They are hard working boats with massive sails intended to generate the power necessary to drag heavy dredges and to work in low wind.

The Wilma Lee was built in 1940 on the Maryland shore by the well known boatbuilder Bronza Parks. It is one of the younger boats in the extant fleet of around thirty skipjacks. Over the years, about 800 of these boats had sailed the oyster-laden waters along the Maryland, Virginia and Carolina shores, though today only six are still used for oyster dredging.
The Wilma Lee is 47 feet on the deck, almost 75 feet overall, including the bowsprit and the davit. She is sloop-rigged with a centerboard, 16 feet at the beam, displacing 20 tons. Her mast rises nearly 65 feet above the water line. She is a shallow draft boat, built with 2 1/2" thick plank on frame construction. With the center board down, she draws around six feet of water and half that with the centerboard up. Her boom is almost 45 feet long, making for a sail area, including the jib, of over 1,700 square feet of canvas.

OUR KEY GOALS-
To employ the Wilma Lee as a centerpiece in a broad educational and cultural program which will bring attention to Ocracoke's maritime traditions, both past and present.

To make the Wilma Lee available as a community resource and magnet attraction and to contribute to the ongoing Community Square revitalization.
To share and pass on to younger generations a love of boats and boating, especially the unparalleled beauty and romance of sailing boats.
To maintain the Wilma Lee in top condition in order that she is always ready to sail and always available as a museum quality example of this fast disappearing maritime legacy.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM-
Of our Key Goals, the educational component is the one which will be the most visible and the most beneficial to the community. Our project seeks to broaden the Ocracoke tourist base by developing the necessary materials to promote and produce two types of educational attractions. The first, directed to summer tourism, will be free hour-long dockside talks, presented two or three times a week, which will cover a range of topics including the skipjack in maritime history, local lore, the history of oystering and more.

The second, directed to building off-season activities in Ocracoke, will be a series of on-board half day and full day school programs made available to North Carolina school districts and which will be designed to supplement the NC Common Core and Extended Content Standards.

Our prospective audience ranges from casual tourists dropping in on a free dockside talk to onboard classroom events for school-age children, to serious researchers looking to learn more about Ocracoke's maritime traditions.

LONG TERM PLAN-
While our current plan is substantially supported by the income derived from our lease agreement, we have had considerable discussion about the longer term prospects for the Wilma Lee and Ocracoke Alive. We have spent some time looking at other organizations similar to ours, with boat-based programs, among them the Ada Mae, which is docked in New Bern, NC. Some of those organizations support all of their programming by sponsors, grants and donations. We see that model as a likely long term future for the Wilma Lee.

We must, however, keep our eye on the short term for now, because of the immediate costs and the liabilities of owning a wooden boat. Ocracoke Alive took a significant risk by agreeing to take ownership of the Wilma Lee and we must be pro-active in fundraising and grant writing for both ongoing maintenance and program development.

HOW YOU CAN HELP-
You can help with donations of all sizes and manner (Donate on Paypal using Reference: Ocracoke Alive/Skipjack Wilma Lee). We, of course, need money, and at this particular juncture, we have discovered that our sails need to be replaced at a cost of around $9,000. This was unanticipated, as they look good, but have begun to tear under stress. Donations can also include anything from giving time to our regular maintenance tasks, to helping us in networking and even simply sharing a story or an idea.

Please consider being a part of this exciting project.

OCRACOKE ALIVE MISSION STATEMENT-
The purpose of Ocracoke Alive, Inc is to nurture the Ocracoke Island community by encouraging and sponsoring cultural, artistic, educational and environmental activities. This includes the production of plays, musicals, exhibits, musical events, schools, workshops and festivals.