In Eric Picard’s “Sally Braid,” Tess embarks on a transformative journey aboard her beloved yacht, Sally Braid, as she seeks solace after retiring from a demanding career and mourning the loss of her husband, Robert. The open sea offers her a chance for reflection and renewal, but a brewing storm soon tests her resolve.
As Tess navigates the shifting winds and turbulent waters off the coast of New England, she encounters unexpected challenges that push her sailing skills and courage to the limit. In the heart of the storm, Tess’s path crosses with a father and daughter on a fishing trip, leading to an unforeseen adventure that will change their lives forever.
“Sally Braid” is a gripping maritime tale that delves into themes of resilience, love, and the power of the human spirit. With the stormy sea as both a physical and metaphorical obstacle, Tess’s journey becomes one of self-discovery and bravery, as she learns to let go of the past and embrace the unknown.
Perfect for fans of nautical fiction and stories of personal triumph, Eric Picard delivers a compelling narrative of courage and the enduring strength found within.
When I was in my twenties, I was a boat captain in Newport, Rhode Island. I ran one of the Oldport Launches, which is how people get from shore out to their boats. This was an incredible summer job. Because it required a U.S. Coast Guard Captain’s license, it took work and a lot of studying. Being a launch driver in Newport, which is called The Yachting Capital of the World, was a fairly prestigious job in those days, and landing the job was pretty competitive.
I was a launch driver all through college and after I graduated for a couple of years, and then through graduate school. This job was really fun, but not always fun. The launch runs from early morning until the bars close, and in all weather conditions, everything from fog to squalls. I’ve dealt with many drunken sailors over the years. I’ve rescued dozens of boats that broke loose during weather. I’ve driven the launch in pea soup fog where I was navigating by ‘feel’ across the harbor. I even worked once in a hurricane, trying to help save boats.
Tess was based on a few of my customers. One customer was a woman in her seventies who was recently widowed, and decided to live on her boat for the summer after her husband died of a heart attack. It was a beautiful old 1940s custom wooden powerboat that her husband had meticulously restored and maintained. She really didn’t know what she was doing, her husband had been the skipper, and she was learning as she went.
One morning I was driving by her boat and saw that it was riding pretty low in the water. I knocked on the hull, and she came up, and we talked about it. She hadn’t noticed that the engine room was flooded. She’d shut off the power to conserve batteries, and the bilge pump wasn’t hard wired to the battery, so it just slowly filled up. She turned the battery switch back on and the bilge pump came back on and pumped it all out. She was a trooper, and by the end of the summer, she’d gained all sorts of new skills, and resilience.
Another of my customers was a seasoned sailor, who was a real “steel magnolia.” She was hard as nails, in her late sixties, and difficult. She was a competitive sailor and took no guff from anyone. She was not loved by my colleagues, and I imagine not loved so much by many people she interacted with. But she really liked me, and sometimes she’d make me dinner, and I’d tie up alongside and eat whatever she’d made us, and we’d chat for a bit. She was really lonely I think.
I took the personality of this very strong woman and transposed it onto the situation of the other very resilient woman, and Tess came out the other end.
I wrote a draft of this short story in grad school, and a few years ago I dusted it off, modernized it, edited it, and published it. I hope you’ll like it.
Eric Picard 