Speaking in the morning at the Annapolis Boys and Girls Club, renowned sailor Capt. Bill Pinkney tailored his comments for the roughly 40 children in his audience.

In the afternoon, he delivered a similar message to a group of about 80 adult sailing aficionados at the Banneker-Douglass Museum. Both events were organized by the Box of Rain Foundation with financial support from Comcast.

Capt. Pinkney, who spent much of his career as a movie make-up artist, sailed a 27,000-mile round-the-world voyage that concluded on June 9, 1992 in Boston Harbor.

More people have climbed Mount Everest, Capt. Pinkney noted, than have sailed solo around the world's five capes. He still sports a gold ring in his left ear, the time-honored symbol of a mariner who has rounded Cape Horn.

During his talks yesterday, Capt. Pinkney incorporated messages for living into his sailing tales, and said sailing offered lessons about determination and self-reliance.

Capt. Pinkney enthralled his younger listeners with tales about Tasmanian devils, and the time a whale surfaced beside his 47-foot boat Commitment.

He said he smelled the sea creature before he even saw it.

Who knew whales had bad breath from eating fish?

There was a serious message to Capt. Pinkney's talk: "Stay healthy, stay on board, you make it," he said describing how a solo sailor can survive in a world where getting careless or falling overboard will mean death.

The same formula applies to life, Capt. Pinkney said, and young people only need to stay focused on their dreams.

"You can make anything happen if you are willing to work for it," he said. "If you have a dream, tell everyone (because) it is the dream of someone, somewhere, to make your dream come true."

Later in the day, when speaking before an all-adult audience, Capt. Pinkney explained how he looked long and hard for the money to finance his round-the-world voyage.

And, he pulled lottery tickets out of his pocket.

"This is a fantasy," he said holding up the tickets, "because I can't make it happen."

Capt. Pinkney, 72, said he'd wanted to sail around the world ever since he was in the seventh grade and read a book that stirred his imagination. After turning 50, he realized he needed to get moving, or possibly lose that dream forever.

One of the children who heard Capt. Pinkney's talk early in the day, Juquan Smith, 12 and a sixth-grader at Annapolis Middle School, said he has participated in Box of Rain Foundation programs for five years and has learned to handle kayaks and sail boats.

"On rainy days, they take us out to eat, and they take us to the Naval Academy, and we get to play racquet ball and rugby," he said.

The foundation was established six years ago in memory of Straughan Lee Griffin, a member of the Eastport Yacht Club.

Two young men from poor neighborhoods murdered Mr. Griffin in September 2002 in downtown Annapolis.

The foundation takes its name from a Grateful Dead song and the name of Mr. Griffin's sailboat. It aims to expose children from poor neighborhoods to boating, and volunteers serve as mentors.

Local businesses, including Annapolis Sailing School, J World, Chesapeake Sailing School and Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating, provide boats and sailing lessons.

Capt. Pinkney, after sailing around the world, became captain of the Amistad, a recreation of the schooner made famous when its slave cargo rebelled in 1839.

 

Read the original story published in the Annapolis newspaper - The Capital on March 9th, 2008