Fishing boat bound for Haiti on goodwill mission
Published Wednesday November 18th, 2009
QUISPAMSIS - A local church group has finally found a way to send a Grand Manan fishing boat to Haiti.
Randy Chaisson, a member of the Kings Valley Wesleyan Church, has been part of four previous group trips to the country to provide aid to a church-owned hospital in a village called Anse à Galets.
For the last six months, he has been trying to find a way to send a fishing boat to the village, located on Gonâve Island, to transport people to and from the hospital.
The boat that's normally used for the 90-minute trip is about 50 years old and made by locals, he said.
The church group started fundraising to pay a container ship to transport the boat but it was going to cost up to $25,000, Chaisson said.
"We just knew it was virtually impossible to raise that money."
After leaving the project at a standstill over the summer, Chaisson was connected to delivery skipper Bob Colpitts, who offered to sail the boat to Haiti for less than half of the cost of sending it on a container ship.
"It was a miracle," Chaisson said. "There's just no way we could see we were going to get it there."
Colpitts, who estimated he has sailed 483,000 kilometres in his 40 years on the water, said taking part in the journey was a natural fit.
"I heard about the boat and learned they were having trouble finding an economic way to send it," he said on a recent morning at the Royal Kennebeccasis Yacht Club, where the boat is docked. "I've never been to Haiti, so it's going to be a challenging trip and a new adventure."
Chaisson said people take their lives in their hands when they travel to and from the Haitian hospital on the old wooden plank boat.
"This boat is much more sea worthy," he said of the Grand Manan vessel. "They really struggle."
The fishing boat was purchased after a Grand Manan fisherman who took part in last year's group trip to Haiti wanted to find a better boat for the run. It happened that the man's father was selling his fishing boat, and several churches raised the money to purchase it.
The boat has been repainted a deep tangerine-orange with its name - Briz sou Lanme a (or Breezy Sea) - written in an African dialect in thick black lettering.
Colpitts, a Saint John resident, will be accompanied by forester Charles McNair for the 21-day journey.
McNair, who lives in the village of Bath in northern New Brunswick, said as soon as he learned of the sailing adventure he wanted to be part of it.
"I said if 'I can get on that boat I'd like to be there'," McNair said. "The fact that my ancestors on my father's side came from the Isle or Arran in Scotland by boat kind of intrigued me, and I started paying attention to sailing sites on the Internet."
Breezy Sea is not a sailboat, but both Colpitts and McNair said they welcome the chance to transport it to Haiti.
"I'm more into sailing than fishing boats but I want to learn a little more about life on the water," said McNair, who studied forestry and mountaineering in the 1970s. "This is an opportunity for me to take the trip of a lifetime, and I have also been aware of the need for the boat in the medical mission in Haiti."
To make the transport even more important, Chaisson said a Scottish couple who visited the island hospital committed to donate $400,000 to upgrade the facility but work can't begin until the fishing boat arrives. He said the boat will be used to transport materials, but also for patients and doctors as the hospital grows.
He said the construction is set to begin in January.
Chaisson said the hospital has 42 beds and three physicians to serve the area with a population of about 125,000.
Colpitts said challenges of the journey include cold weather and long, dark nights.
"The issue with delivering in autumn is there's more chance of storms," he said. "If darkness hits, and you run into trouble sometimes you go 14 hours before it's light and you can deal with it."
Colpitts, who usually delivers high-end yachts, said this ride will be "more challenging and more uncomfortable" but will also rewarding.
"It's great to be able to help," he said.
Colpitts and McNair will leave the yacht club to embark on their journey on Sunday or Monday.
Chaisson said he hopes to visit Haiti early next year to see the boat in action. He said while the project has seen its challenges, he always knew he would find a way to get it to Haiti.
"You never give up," he said.
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