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Sailing back into Bay's past

October 13, 2009 12:35 am

IF TWO KINSALE men can flesh out their maritime visions with fundraising and volunteer labor, floating pieces of Chesapeake Bay history could one day be a draw near what was one of the country's first seaports.

In the process, the pair hopes to save a bay deadrise fishing boat, Spare Time, that means a lot to folks in a nearby community on the Yeocomico River.

Charles Santangelo and Michael Hollingsworth are principals in the Port Kinsale Foundation, a nonprofit group formed several years ago to renovate and preserve a vintage skipjack, the Virginia W., an oyster dredging sailboat with connections to Kinsale.

The foundation, tied to the Port Kinsale Marina Santangelo manages, owns and has responsibility for the upkeep of the skipjack moored there.

Hollingsworth, head of the foundation, said the group hopes to create a small fleet of classic Chesapeake Bay work and pleasure boats.

"They'd be a floating museum of sorts," said Hollingsworth. "We could bring school groups and young people in to hear watermen and others share stories about the work and history that happened on these vessels."

The foundation got a good start, acquiring the Virginia W., built around 1904, which was renovated several years back.

Recently, Santangelo and Hollingsworth worked to acquire a 37-foot bay deadrise, a pleasure and fishing boat built by Earl Jenkins, a much beloved waterman who operated the Sandy Point Marina for years. In his early years, he worked as a mate and captain on schooners and powerboats, shipping goods on the bay.

"It's a classic example of the bay deadrise," said Hollingsworth. "Put that aside the skipjack and you've got two of the classic boats that once dotted the Chesapeake."

It's not quite as simple as driving the Spare Time over on a trailer and sliding her into the water at Port Kinsale.

The boat, finished in 1962, has seen better days.

"It needs the bottom planking replaced and work on portions of the deck," said Hollingsworth. "But its bones and most of what's topside seem to be in pretty good shape."

Jenkins, known by legions of boaters at the marina still operated by his family, was a talented woodworker who built the deadrise with no plans.

Since the construction took place over 2 years in the scant spare time Jenkins had between running the marina and working as a shop foreman at Potomac Supply Corporation, he named the sleek craft Spare Time.

To restore the ailing craft and to do needed work on the Virginia W., thousands of dollars need to be raised.

Santangelo plans to have several wine-tasting dinners at the marina's restaurant this fall, with proceeds going toward the renovations.

Hollingsworth, a retired businessman who moved to Kinsale in 1994, is pursuing grants and investigating his own fundraising ideas, including the sale of decorative belt buckles featuring images of the Virginia W. and Spare Time.

He said the foundation is also working to cultivate donations of materials, which has already started, and any volunteer labor that can go toward restoring these two vessels.

Laura Mae Jenkins, Earl's widow, known by many as MaeMae, said she's very gratified that the foundation plans to renovate her husband's labor of love.

"We took that boat everywhere and people all around here know it," she said. "It had gotten to be a lot for us to keep it up."

Rob Hedelt: 540/374-5415
Email: rhedelt@freelancestar.com