S/V PATIENCE
THE BOAT THAT SAVED MY LIFE
MY RETURN TO THE ISLAND
The passage to the island was quick and uneventful. Slowly walking down the pier, I kept thinking of what I was doing back here other than getting my hair cut and commiserating with old friends? There was no way I could afford to live here. My veterans benefits were limited and commercial fishing was not an option. Life did not have much to offer me, a disabled Vietnam vet with no home, his way of life taken away by the very government that failed to protect our country's environment. Fishermen were blamed for overfishing in all the newspapers, nowhere was the government  blamed for the environmental degradation of the water the fish lay their eggs in.
It didn't take long for the tears to flow just like in the courtroom in Boston during a hearing in the case of Friends & Fishers of Edgartown Great Pond vs The Town of Edgartown. During that hearing I realized with my PTSD, it was not possible for me to pursue a career in law.  Picking my head up and looking out at the harbor wiping the tears from my eyes, I was feeling  embarrassed, deeply depressed and wondering what is this life all about? Head hung low, dragging my feet on the cement pier, I stumbled when the cement pier turned to wood. There she was, tied to the pier, an ugly duckling dressed in green with a For Sale sign hanging from her boom. I thought to myself "I could live aboard this boat". When I called the owner, Robert Sanborn, he told me where I could find the hidden key. Going aboard, I found the key hanging in the lazarette. Opening the companionway hatch, the odor was a telltale sign that no one had been aboard in a very long time. Going below, first thing I noticed was the cast iron coal stove with FISHERMEN cast in the oven door. I was sure I had found my new home. Little did I know how long it would take me to make this ugly duckling my new home.
After my haircut at Benito's Barbershop, I called Bob and offered to buy him lunch at Linda Jeans restaurant on Circuit Ave in Oak Bluffs. We talked of our love of sailing and our time in the service He was a Coast Guard veteran while I was a Navy veteran so we had a lot in common, both in our service, being estranged from our families and drinking too much. This is a common theme among veterans. Then we got around to the boat. I explained her condition to him and veteran to veteran he signed the Federal Document over to me for $1 and other considerations. The other considerations were, I buy his lunch, promise to rebuild her and never scrap her for the bronze. I was now the proud owner of my new home albeit a rotten one. I have to this day kept my word and will give her a dignified decommissioning if my mission to have her serve as a Dedicated Veterans Service Vessel fails to gain community support. My body will no longer support life on the open ocean.
RESTORATION BY ROBERT SANBORN
The history of Robert Sanborn's four year restoration and forty some years of ownership was recorded in text only. No pictures but Bob gave me a large box of  paper receipt's of the thousands of dollars he spent on restoring S/V PATIENCE. Carpenter Nat Benjamin of GANNON & BENJAMIN boat building in Vineyard Haven MA worked on her at Bob's home in 1979 at a labor rate of $9 an hour. He kept a daily log for his accomplishments. I provide our readers with his personal letter placing the boat for sale in 1998 with CANNELL, PAYNE & PAGE, Yacht Brokers in Camden ME, asking price was eighteen thousand dollars. He laments in the letter how he was being forced to sell his beloved boat due to his old age. coupled with no interest from his family members. On page three of the Broker agreement you can read the very extensive rebuild, without which I would not have been able to complete my restoration. Now she has come full circle with old age and no family interest forcing me to find a new home for her. Her new home will be as a Dedicated Veterans Service Vessel or she will be decommissioned with dignity if support is not found. I will not let her rot away lonely and uncared for!
- PERSONAL LETTER PAGE ONE Written on 01/10/1998, laments lack of pictures of PATIENCE.
- PAGE TWO, laments that his son is forcing the sale of PATIENCE.
- PAGE THREE, asking for suggestion on price
MY RESTORATION IN THE WESTPORT RIVER
My restoration of S/V PATIENCE AKA PAVITI TERN would not have been possible without the workers and the owners of FL TRIPP & SONS. Each and every morning it was "good morning" Mike. Â Harry Tripp in the parts room always ready to help with hard to find parts. Gary Holden solving logistics in the yard. Carpenters, Scott Gifford, Bob Simone and Richie Simone building her new mast as well as countless other tasks, helping to insure her future. I will be forever grateful to the hard working crew at FL TRIPP & SONS.
The first summer was decision time. When I took the mast out I discovered it was full of water mainly because the glue was not waterproof in 1938. The more I looked the more rot I found. I would. wake up in my apartment in Holliston, MA and fight with myself try to decide wether to bring my chainsaw to the yard to cut her up. Owner George Tripp had told me it would be easy to cut her up and put her in a dumpster as she was wood with no hazardous materials. I made the decision to commission the yard to build me a new mast, in that way I would have to restore her!
SUMMER ROT ASSESSMENT 2002
Winter in The Westport River
The winter in the water exposed far more rot than I had anticipated but failure was not an option. The green hull paint had been removed now it's time to remove the green cabin. By jigging the cabin clamp & deck carlings I was able to hoist the cabin top high up in the tent with block and tackle. Once jigged this enabled the removal of the cabin clamp, cabin bulkheads and deck carlings. Fortunately the shear clamp, shelf and stringers all original were in fine shape.
SUMMER FUN 2003
The sixty original steam bent white oak 2"x2" ribs as well as the butt blocks were fastened to the hull with the iron clinch nails pictured above. All the frames and butt blocks had rotted due to the tannic acid in the oak reacting to the iron. The replacement of these rotten frames was made possible by the fifty steam bent oak frames installed by GANNON & BENJAMIN, Boat-Works in Vineyard Haven MA during Bob Sanborn's restoration.
FALL 2003 & WINTER 2004
The fall of 2003 took me out to West Tisbury on the island of Marthas Vineyard to visit my mate from the cod fishing days. Peter was my mate for many years on F/V LAURA. With his own hands Pete had built a large boat house complete with mezzanine platform and railroad track and all the tools to completely restore wooden boats. On windy days in the winter we would go into the woods and cut wood suitable for making knees. Pete cut all the knees for PAVITI TERN and did not charge me a dime.
PATIENCE TO S/V PAVITI TERN
SPRING 2005 TO SPRING 2006
The spring of 2005 found us in a quonset hut tent with a new helper, Richard Cottreau. He was an extraordinary master shipwright from Wedgeport, Nova Scotia. He was brought to this country by Mackenzie to build his famous Cuttyhunk bass boats of which he built hundreds of them. Many are still in use today. In his youth he had worked many years in the shipyards in Lunenburg Nova Scotia. There was not a task that Richard could not handle from keel bolts to topmast, he could do it all. Without his help the restoration of PATIENCE would have not been possible. The tent was provided by FL TRIPP & SONS free of charge. She was launched and christened with her previous name PAVITI TERN in the spring of 2006. She had no mast or interior to allow her to take up after so many years of her being out of the water.
HAUL S/V PAVITI TERN SPRING 2006
INTERIOR
The spring of 2005 found us back in the quonset hut tent ready to begin the final phase of the project, installing bulkheads, water tanks, fuel tanks, hatches, bunk, chart table, anchor locker, ceilings, nav station and head. All the appurtenances necessary for her to be a fully found sailing vessel. The final project was to install her name and home port in gold leaf.
THE TERN TRAVELS
