"To Sail Beyond the Sunset": Not a Review, but a Reflection

Susan St. John, a Trustee of the Hurricane Island Foundation and a long time friend to the island and its various tenants, has just published her book about the years that Outward Bound was on Hurricane Island, entitled "To Sail Beyond the Sunset." To celebrate the book release, and to kick off the task of distributing pre-ordered copies, Susan hosted a gathering at the Apprenticeshop in Rockland. Bo Hoppin, Robin Chernow, and I attended, representing the Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership. I arrived close to the scheduled start time and found a room already crammed full of joyful faces, and I had a marvelous evening. I took our copy home and have been picking away at the stories over the past few weeks, and I've been reflecting on how I have come to feel a part of the Hurricane Island community.

Volunteer Day, 2012: One of the the first times I went ashore to Hurricane. My kids were so young!

I'm not an easy sell on sentimentality but generally can keep an open mind. (The first time I went ashore the reportedly magical Brimstone Island, I was disappointed. "It's just a bunch of rocks!" I wailed.) I had lived on an island, year-round, and was very happy to be settled in Rockland, where I could drive where I wished and go to the movies without seeing anyone I knew. So the first time I set foot on Hurricane, it was another island to me: infrastructure, facilities, windswept ledges, the remnants of the quarrying era scattered around the campus. I looked with an analytical eye and not a shred of sentimentality. It was early in the formation of the Hurricane Island Foundation, before a tremendous gift paved the way for us to rebuild the broken down buildings and get operations off the ground.

Sam and I (at left), along with other staff and board, greet guests on Hurricane Island at Outward Bound's 50th reunion, August 2014.

I came into my position managing the development effort for the Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership knowing almost nothing about Outward Bound. I can't think of a single person I knew in high school or college who went on an Outward Bound course. People strongly associated Hurricane Island with Outward Bound, understandably since they had used it as a base for programming for 40 years! At the newly organized Hurricane Island, we were struggling to clarify what this new chapter on the island was trying to accomplish. "STEM ... hands-on experiences ... community ... implication for action ... leadership training ... making science relevant to students ..." Phrases bumped around in my thoughts as I tried to wrap my head around what we were going to become good at, what was unique, and how we would communicate this to donors, foundations, prospective program participants, other organizations.

Many of our board members had Outward Bound DNA. I didn't quite know how to take them. They were warm, they were welcoming, they were supportive. They were smart, they were worldly, they were fun, and they were connected with each other in a way that seemed to transcend the passage of time. I could have been uptight about integrating myself into this community that existed way before I came around, but instead I relaxed and enjoyed the people around me. The conviviality was a bright spot in some tough early years as we got things going.

July 2016: Staff, board, and friends bid farewell to guests from the dock. Photo Credit: Michael Hawley.

But for me, Hurricane the Place was still a lot like Brimstone--lovely island with an interesting history and great charm, but not exactly magic. That changed for me when we opened up the island in August 2014 to host Outward Bound's 50th reunion. Our operations staff --quite small!-- scrambled to get the island ready; there were so many details that had to come together. Outward Bound's staff worked its tail off, too. It was a huge task, putting something like this together, having a 2-day event on an island for hundreds of people. A band! Lobster bake! Port-a-potties! Dozens of boats! A ferry cancellation!

My role was to be present, to be available, to host. I had the luxury of spending that day in the Mess Hall with fellow staffer Alyson Graham, 5 months pregnant. I adored her and the team of help she had assembled. It was fun. Time slowed down. We made cookies to share with the guests using recipes that the Vinalhaven Historical Society had assembled from the quarrying era. People from various eras of Outward Bound history came in and out, seeing old friends, making new, feeling the flood of memories and the happiness of connection. It was utterly inspiring. A dinner line that lasted an hour was no problem--more time to get to know each other. A dance in the big tent on the South End lent an air of ecstasy to the night. We tipped the band; we begged them to play more. When there was no more dancing, there was a hike to the high Cliffs on trails I barely knew. I trusted myself in the hands of the people who had come before me. On that moonless night as we sat on those smooth, freshly varnished benches, it seemed we could see Portugal, or Brazil, way off, over there. And for the first time, I felt the magic; I fell in love.

I'm not an Outward Bound alumnae, but maybe I'm an adopted daughter. Maybe I can help represent the bridging of the extraordinary connection found in the Hurricane Island community from the past era to the present. Many, many of the people whom we at the Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership consider to be part of our community were also part of the Outward Bound community when it was on Hurricane Island. Others who are new to Hurricane Island also fall truly and deeply in love with the place and the community. They can, and do, connect with the past community. And although we'll still identify people from time to time as "someone with a HIOBS background" or "someone new to the island," I think we're all part of one larger community.

February 5, 2016: staff trip to Hurricane. 

The publication of Susan St. John's  book To Sail Beyond the Sunset captures many of the stories that describe this connection. And to me, walking into her book release event last month exemplified the meaning of community as something that transcends place and time. I didn't know more than a couple of her guests before I started working for this organization six years ago, but when I entered that room, I found myself continuously gasping with elation at seeing each of those faces. The next morning I wrote down a list of names of the people I connected with. It was long. Really long. And it was full of friends--not just people I know but people I love. Susan's book synthesizes what a blessing it is to be a part of this community.

Education Symposium at TIOBEC: Closing the Opportunity Gap

In late September, several members of the Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center (TIOBEC) executive and program staff visited Hurricane Island. You can read Olga Feingold’s blog on that trip here, but one of the many things that came out of that visit was a standing invitation to visit them on their island in Boston Harbor. So when we were invited to take part in an education symposium discussing the opportunity gap, I accepted with delight. I first went to Thompson Island exactly two years ago with our Executive Director, Barney Hallowell, and Science Educator, Alice Anderson. Since that visit, TIOBEC has completed a capital campaign resulting in a campus that has had some upgrades.

My trip started with a last minute decision to get a direct flight to Boston from Rockland using an old voucher. I arrived at the airport about 10 minutes before the flight was to take off with the bag I usually take to overnight on Hurricane. As I hastily went through TSA, I confessed to the agents that I was unprepared for flying—no Ziploc bags…and as my bag went through the machines, they discovered the folding knife I carry with me to the island! Oops. Not a great start to the trip, but they were kind and reasonable. It was a bright sunny day—picture-perfect flight hugging the coast, still plenty of fall colors blazing.

The Boston seaport district is a fascinating area, undergoing many changes. I used to be able to make my way around Boston by orienting myself to the skyline, but that doesn’t work for me anymore in that neighborhood; the skyline keeps changing! And the seaport has a gritty, industrial character to it that is overshadowed here and there by pockets of ultra cool, innovative startups. The Design Center, next to the building housing TIOBEC’s offices, features eclectic spots for lunch, numerous design firms where you might select carpet or drapery, and a comfortable, sunny lobby where I parked myself for an hour to work while I awaited my traveling companions, Carol and Peter Willauer.

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Peter and Carol with their table at the Education Conversation on Tuesday morning (Photo courtesy of Jaclyn Parks)

Peter, Carol, and I boarded the 5PM ferry to the island with our “concierge” Logan. It’s a lively trip—I love seeing the container ships up close, the industrial working waterfront, planes taking off just across the harbor, old forts on the harbor islands, tugboats, water taxis. What a different experience from Hurricane Island! Logan drove us up the hill to Sherbrooke House, the same place I stayed with Barney and Alice two years ago—but it’s since had a facelift. New windows, curtains, and heat make it quite comfortable.

We headed to Bowditch Hall for dinner with the staff and students. There were 80 or so students from a suburban public school eating in shifts with their teachers and with TIOBEC staff, and three staffers joined us. Emily, Tim, and Annie (pictured here with Peter) shared with us all kinds of program information and thoughts on what it’s like to live on the island for a season, such as how they manage time off.

After a comfortable night in Sherbrooke House, I rose early to catch a waning crescent moon high up over the quad. It feels so much like being on a school campus, from the old brick buildings placed atop a gently sloping hill to the crisp clear autumn weather. That’s no accident of course—it was started as a school many decades ago. Guests (60 of them!) arrived from the mainland around 8:30 as part of the Education Conversations, a series of free symposia focused on individuals and organizations partnering with and supporting public schools in Boston. The participants formed a diverse group of people representing many Boston-based nonprofits, the National Park Service, and teachers from the Boston Public Schools.

After introductions from TIOBEC executive staff, program staffer Tyler took the entire group into the next room for an Outward Bound “comfort zone” exercise. He had us walk into the center circle for each example he read aloud that feels to us to be in our comfort zone, and travel outside of a wider circle when the example makes us feel panic—the point being that you need to get out of your comfort zone to maximize readiness for learning but not be in panic mode. I was struck by the range of responses from the group. The examples were fun—swimming in the ocean with sharks, climbing 4000-foot mountains, navigating Boston without GPS. It was an interesting start to the morning as it framed the conversation to be most successful if it includes challenging ourselves individually and as a community.

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Samantha Lyon leads Peter and Carol's table in a breakout session. My table is in the background (Photo courtesy of Jaclyn Parks)

Several speakers shared their thoughts and then we went into breakout sessions. The conversations were fascinating. Something quite relevant and applicable to our work in Maine is that although the race-based achievement gap has shrunk some in the past 20 years, the class-based achievement gap is growing. An interesting number I heard was that there are three college students for every Boston Public School student, suggesting tremendous opportunities for mentorship programs. I was incredibly impressed by the commitment and dedication to excellence by each person in the room, and I was left believing that the Boston Public Schools are doing a phenomenal job of educating students and connecting their students with resources through a wealth of partnerships. I’m looking forward to seeing the summation of the day.

Volunteer Day: Foggy but fantastic

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Early on a damp Sunday morning, 21 intrepid volunteers aged 8 to 80-something steamed across Penobscot Bay through dense fog and a running flood tide. Many had never set foot on Hurricane Island before, while several had a lifetime of memories of picnics, work, or student life on Hurricane.

Island staff greeted the enthusiastic gang with an overview of the island’s history and a safety briefing. Introductions were made all around, and the group convened in the mess hall for the first feed of the day—warm muffins, coffee, and tea. Jobs were divvied up shortly after in the Weiler-Lewis Boathouse, sending work teams to the South End to assemble wall tents, up the hill to strip shingles off cabins getting renovated, and to the gardens to plant seedlings. The newly sanded classroom floor got two coats of polyurethane, a kelp drying rack was crafted, and outhouses were freshly painted.

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A fantastic lunch, served by our amazing kitchen team, included buttermilk fried chicken, roasted tomato soup, grilled smoked cheddar sandwiches, and an Israeli couscous salad full of fresh veggies. The volunteers then headed back to finish projects they had started, and a big group cleared brush together around our newly built, round yurt platforms. Several ravens paid an afternoon visit to the North End of Hurricane Island (one pictured here), and while the fog never lifted, volunteers stayed dry and kept warm with the exercise, snacking on freshly baked cookies. At the end of the day, a group of 33 high school students from the Paul Cuffee School in Providence, RI, arrived for a three-day program, and we boarded Equinox again to return to Rockland, where the rain began just as we got back to our vehicles. New friendships were kindled, and everyone was smiling.

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Anyone remembering our gardens in the 2014-2015 seasons will recall the straw bale gardening technique we employed. Shown here is the garden today, enriched with those two years’ of organic matter and amendments, now suitable for direct planting.

We continue to be amazed by the sheer delight our volunteers take in becoming a part of our community and the generosity of spirit that is shared throughout the day. The work they do has an exponential impact on our progress—not just because many hands allow us to get done more than we can without them, but because the enthusiasm is contagious. The big smiles shared by our volunteers with the group of charter school students setting foot on Hurricane Island for the very first time, lugging suitcases up the ramp at low tide, lifted their spirits and told them they were welcome, that this is a place for everyone, that they too will be sorry to leave but will permanently be a part of the community that is Hurricane.

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Volunteer Day: April 25

We kicked off our volunteer days on Hurricane Island for 2015 with a particularly early one, on Saturday April 25. The fact that our winter had been so long and snowy made it seem even earlier than it would on any other year. And as we walked the trails, getting reacquainted with the island we know and love, we did find many banks of snow remaining on Hurricane, and not only in the deep woods.

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Fourteen volunteers, ages 7 to 85, joined seven staffers on Hurricane on this chilly morning, and we could actually see a few snowflakes in the air before we boarded M/V Equinox in Rockland, along with 18 bales for this year’s straw bale gardens just up from the Dining Hall. We had volunteers that had lived on Hurricane for years, and we had volunteers who had never set foot on Hurricane, but everyone was perfectly prepared for whatever mother nature delivered, and she delivered us a day perfect for the projects we had planned.

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We didn’t have our floats in at the dock yet, so it was up the ladder at the dock for this group. The difference between getting to Hurricane so early in the season compared with, say, October, is so palpable, yet hard to define. Sure, the light is a little different in May with the solstice less than two months away, the vegetation is different, but if you kept constant all those little details—took the same number of people, chose a chilly October day with gray skies like this late April day, there is a psychic quality to the island that makes it just feel different. It’s as if the island itself has been hibernating, like the echoes of an entire season of students and visitors that are so fresh in October, so vibrant and ringing, have long faded away to winter’s quiet, contemplative state. There’s a hush to the island, and everyone senses that, so that we find ourselves almost tiptoeing and whispering.

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We started our volunteer day out right: with a coffee break! and then mustered in the barn to hear about the day’s projects: oiling stall doors in the new showerhouse, clearing brush and cutting back branches from the perimeter trail, turning over the gardens in the Meadow, hauling straw bales up to the gardens, re-shingling a side of the infirmary, making repairs to the floats before they are put in for the season, clearing brush, and a new one: drilling holes in birch logs and hammering in plugs that contain mushroom spores. We’re going to grow oyster mushrooms!

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Our new cook for 2015, Micah Conkling, prepared a wonderful, hearty meal for us. Jobs were swapped after lunch, and the weather continued to cooperate. It warmed up enough to remove parkas and hats. It was truly a wonderful day: we completed many projects, we explored and woke up the island, and new friends were made. 

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