Scott Swanson
When a fleet of small sailboats embark on Foster Lake from Lewis Creek Park this Sunday afternoon, Aug. 12, Pastor Joe Medley will see a longtime dream come to life.
The moment of truth will occur when the sails go up on a dozen crafts and young mariners, nearly all of whom have had little experience on the surface of a lake, glide off toward the horizon.
Well, something like that.
Most of the boats were constructed during a two-week-long “Noah Project” hosted by Medley’s Fir Lawn Lutheran Church earlier this summer.
Medley and senior volunteers helped mostly junior high-aged youngsters build their own 8-foot El Toro-class sailing dinghies, complete with 13-foot masts and sails.
They had an informal test off the Gedney Creek boat ramp in July.
“That was one of the most amazing days of my life,” Medley said, describing how he watched one participant, who had no previous experience in boating, get out on the lake for the first time, in a boat he had built.
“The other kids were on the shore, cheering him on,” he said. “The wind caught his sail, and he got this grin on his face and off he went.”
Medley said the idea of having kids build boats first came to him about 10 years ago, but the project didn’t get off the ground until last year. Even that was a learning experience, and the boats sat in storage until this year, when last year’s participants joined with the current crew.
Hope Kopperud, 13, said her older brother Terran was a participant last year and she decided to give it a shot.
“He said it would be a good experience, so I just did it,” she said. “It was actually pretty fun and it did build a lot of character. My boat was real problematic.”
That was the point, Medley said.
“The whole idea of this was that we would take kids who could use a positive challenge in their life, and we wanted them to do something they couldn’t even imagine they could do before. We wanted them to be successful, and have exposure to positive adults.”
Medley related how, during World War II, when ships were sunk the younger survivors tended to die before their older companions.
“The 20-year-olds were dying quickly. The older guys lasted for weeks, because they knew they could. They had self confidence.”
Another outcome of this year’s Noah Project, he and other volunteers said, was exposure to positive peers.
“It was something else to see how they started to work as a team,” said volunteer Allan Holmes of Lebanon, who joined up after hearing about the Noah Project from a friend, then reading about it in a newspaper article.
“They just dive in and go. I’ve seen a brother and sister work together without fighting.”
Seven teens finished boats this year: Allison Keel, Hope Kopperud, Jessica Manson, Dacotah Pennington, Dominic Piety, Aiden Shamek and James Whitmore.
They got assistance from most of last year’s crew, who returned: Caleb Christman, Christian Christman, Judah Christman, Adrian Kast and Terron Kopperud.
Shamek, 14, who lives near the church, said he came into the program with some experience using tools and his grandfather, Jan Martin, had once built boats – “canoes and kayaks, stuff like that.”
“We would always go out with him, go canoeing on the lake, on Foster.”
Shamek said participating in the Noah Project was “better than what I expected.”
“I enjoyed making the frame, the outside part, the most,” he said. “You had to be pretty precise. Painting was pretty fun.”
Chris Christman, 13, who returned to participate this year with his twin brother Caleb, heard about the project from relatives who are members at Fir Lawn, said the project far exceeded his expectations.
“We were talking about how Joe was going to do this thing about building boats. To me, it was just a little remote control boat or something like that. I didn’t expect it to be 8-foot by 4-foot boats. I expected something small, like popsicle sticks or something.”
Manson, 16, who moved to Sweet Home last year from Lake Havasu, Ariz., said she’d had a lot of experience with canoes and kayaks, but she’s always wanted to sail.
“I always wanted my own canoe or sailboat,” she said. “Now I have one.”
She said she had to just trust the instructions when things didn’t seem to make sense as she built her boat.
“You’re just given one thing. You don’t understand how it fits into the whole thing,” Manson said.
On a recent summer morning before the test sail, participants gathered at the church to put final touches on their recently painted boats, which largely involved fitting the masts and sails.
Medley explained some technical details and boat anatomy to the teens.
“All of your masts are exactly the same size,” he told them. “The gooseneck is where the boom connects to the mast.” He explained to the young people how the lines and boom work together with a pulley to allow the sailor to run the boat.
They all watched as a participant followed Medley’s instructions.
“All right,” Medley yelled, as the sail slipped into place on the mast. “Heck, yeah!”
Holmes noted that he and other volunteers were there to support the effort. He said the women who hand-made 13 sets of sails for the boats were “unsung heroes” who, Medley said, saved the project significantly on that cost.
Holmes was one of about a dozen volunteers who helped the kids learn how to use tools and generally assisted when necessary. Medley said the others were Richard Cook, Paul Christman, Pat Corben, Michael Esplin, Angie Fisher, Patty Holk, Skip Malone, Laura Mithoug, Ella Pengilley and Thomas Verelly.
Sunday, D-Day, will include boats from both this year’s participants as well as last year’s, when the boats never actually got on the water – officially, at least.
The regatta will begin about 12:30 p.m., after Medley leads an outdoor church service for Fir Lawn and the Sweet Home United Methodist Church, both of which he pastors. Following lunch, the sailers will embark.
The public is invited, particularly prospective future participants.
“If kids want to do this next year, they should come out to watch,” Medley said.
Shamek said his experience was “really fun.”
“When you start from nothing and make an awesome-looking boat, it’s really cool.
“I can’t wait to get on the water.”