Seaview Harbor Marina near Longport was the last stop in New Jersey on Erik Wade's out-of-the-way voyage in 2018.
By Donald Wittkowski
His steering was broken, his instrument cluster is smashed and he suspects the bottom of his boat may have suffered significant damage.
Erik Wade never imagined things could have turned out so badly when he set off from chilly Boston in his 36-foot sailboat the “Pyrate” for an approximately 1,400-mile trip to mild Key West, Fla.
Along the way, he ran aground twice, including being stranded for four days on a beach in Sea Isle City before he was plucked off the sand by a marine towing company. So far, he has not made it south of the Jersey Shore.
Wade now finds himself docked at a Longport marina while he makes repairs on his battered boat – which doubles as his home – and ponders how he will pay for all of the expenses he has racked up so far on his tumultuous voyage.
A GoFundMe page https://www.gofundme.com/erick-wade-sailor-stranded-in-sea-isle-city has been set up to help him cover his expenses. To this point, $1,300 has been raised toward a goal of $5,000.
Dan Fisher Jr. started the GoFundMe drive after he and his family stumbled upon Wade when he had become beached in Sea Isle last week. Fisher, whose parents live in Sea Isle, said it is an opportunity to help someone truly in need.
“He was just so grateful and appreciative for what seems like a small thing,” Fisher said Monday of how Wade has thanked him for the GoFundMe page.
Erik Wade is getting some financial help from a GoFundMe drive.
Any money that is raised from GoFundMe will go directly into Wade’s bank account, Fisher noted. He hopes the fundraiser will help relieve the stress Wade has been feeling from having to pay for his boat’s towing, repairs and marina expenses.
“That pressure is off of him,” Fisher said. “One message he gave me is that his despair went away and he’ll be OK.”
Fisher is president of the Mullica Hill-based Girder-Slab Technologies LLC, a company that does testing and design criteria for structural steel used in multi-story buildings. His father is a partner in the company.
Wade, who makes his living as a union bridge painter, said he was overwhelmed by the generosity of the Fishers and other people who helped him in Sea Isle. He was surprised when he learned that Dan Fisher Jr. created the GoFundMe drive.
“I’m just so grateful,” he said.
In addition to money from the GoFundMe page, Wade hopes that his insurance will pay for his boat expenses. He emphasized that he wants to pay everyone back, including the towing company and the marina operator.
In the meantime, Wade is laid up at the Seaview Harbor Marina in Longport. He estimates he will be underway within the week. In the past few days, he was able to repair a broken tiller that temporarily left him without steering. He has begun working on his shattered instrument cluster so that he’ll be able to restart his boat engine.
The beached boat was stuck in Sea Isle City for four days before it was pulled off the sand by a towing vessel.
Wade has not abandoned hope of eventually reaching Key West for a winter sojourn. If he makes it there, he plans to relax and rest up in the semi-tropical climate before heading back to Boston next spring to find work again as a bridge painter.
“The water is so pretty there. It is so laid back and tranquil,” he said longingly of Key West.
Wade, 40, considers himself an experienced sailor. He said he has sailed solo along the East Coast a few times, including one trip from Delaware to Key West.
In an era of satellite-based navigation, he instead relies on paper charts, a compass and a monocular when he sails.
“If you’re going south, there is dirt on the right. And vice versa if you’re going north,” he explained matter-of-factly of how he uses the coastline to guide him.
His old-school style of navigation is not without risks. In late November, rough water obscured his ability to see the channel markers and he ran aground near the Ocean City-Longport Bridge, not far from where he now is at the Seaview Harbor Marina.
After getting a tow, he continued on his trip, only to get beached in Sea Isle on Dec. 2 after he fell asleep and his anchor line snapped. He remained trapped on the Sea Isle beach until TowBoat U.S., the same company that rescued him near the Ocean City-Longport Bridge, pulled him back out to sea on Dec. 6.
“I’m hoping he can go far enough south so he’s not in my area and I don’t have to worry about him anymore,” John Ryan, owner of TowBoat U.S., joked of Wade.
Ryan said his company charged Wade just $1,500 to tow him from Sea Isle when the cost would normally be closer to $15,000.
“It is Christmas time and we’re trying to be nice,” Ryan said.
Erik Wade expects to complete repairs and get underway from the Seaview Harbor Marina within the week.
Wade was towed to Seaview Harbor Marina because the tiller arm broke while the sailboat was being yanked from the beach, leaving him without steering.
Throughout his unintended stay in Sea Isle, Wade benefited from the hospitality of local residents who gave him food and even a place to stay. Sea Isle resident Trish Hansen, let him sleep on her couch at her house on 46th Street.
Wade said he doesn’t have a lot of money and will depend on his unemployment benefits when – or if – he finally makes it to Key West. He values his steel-hulled sailboat at about $40,000. The boat serves as his full-time home for his nomadic lifestyle.
“This could’ve easily been an abrupt end to the only way I know how to live, but I’m feeling positive that we’re going to adapt and overcome,” he said of his odyssey. “This will be something I’ll never forget, but I’ll carry on and no matter what, Pyrate and I will survive!”
