Friends and supporters joined to celebrate the "marriage" of the oyster sloop Christeen to the Waterfront Center. The announcement was made at the kick-off of the boating season at the Sagamore Yacht Club, Sunday, May 5. President of the Waterfront Center Fritz Coudert announced the merger that brings together the Christeen, the Waterfront Center and the Oyster Bay Sailing School as one entity. "Between us and the Main Street Association we will revitalize Oyster Bay."

He said they envision developing the waterfront as a destination. "We plan on putting in a floating dock so that boaters can tie up. We will supply transportation so they can get into the village and walk around. Hopefully we will get stores like Bradford Law and the Country Lady again for shopping.

The best thing is these visitors will not need parking."They can rent space on the floats and offer free transportation to town," he said. "This is the biggest opportunity for Oyster Bay to rebuild itself," he said.

The two companies have merged. Clint Smith talked to him a while ago asking if he wouldn't like to take on the Christeen. While the group of volunteers built the ship, it needed an organization to continue its upkeep and maintenance. Mr. Coudert said his first answers were, I didn't know. That changed when the Waterfront center bought the Oyster Bay Sailing School which will bring its income into the coffers of the center so now we can afford it, he said. "People were trying to make it a not-for-profit but we got what we wanted." Still, he said, although they merged three groups into one entity, it will need more funds over time.

He thanked Jamie Deming for her work with the Oyster Bay Sailing School while she was getting her teaching degree.

NYS Senator Carl Marcellino said, "I'm here to pay tribute to the people who volunteered to preserve the Christeen and to make it part of the community. It has become an integral part of the Oyster Bay Community. It all happened because a few people had a dream: I helped and Fritz helped." The senator found state money and Mr. Coudert donated funds.

Mr. Coudert said, at first they weren't quite sure what they would do with the Christeen. They hired Rob Crafa on a part time basis and he helped get them known and now, almost fully booked for the season.

Mr. Coudert said the Waterfront Center expanded its board to include three board members from the Christeen: Dick Holifield, Bill Quinn and Clint Smith. They joined Frinny Storrs, Jamie Deming, Angela Koenig, Mary Alice Kolodner, Jay Teyan, Jack Williams and Judy Hershon for a total of 10, plus himself as president and with Rob Crafa as executive director.

Speaking at the reception, Rob Crafa said the Christeen is there to remind people of Oyster Bay's maritime past. He asked people who owned boats to raise their hands. Then he told everyone to raise their hands because,

"Thanks to you, you really own a part of the Christeen." He said a dozen more volunteers, and a lot of people helped make the Christeen happen. Rob said, probably the most important person, besides Clint, is Ann Smith because she endured the time it took Clint to finish the job. "He was the president of the Christeen Oyster Sloop Preservation Corporation, the only name shorter than the Center for Marine Education and Recreation at Oyster Bay, that is now known as the Center for Marine Education," said Rob.

He too spoke of the important changes and the programs going on already. "Hank DelPercio works in the Learn to Fish Program. The only problem is he gets more excited than the kids when they catch a fish!"

Mr. DelPercio said he has a picture of a kid with a fish half his size. Mr. Crafa said the Christeen is a great way to tour Oyster Bay Harbor without paying a high fee to charter a boat. He said the boat has been used for a wedding and for a fishing birthday party for an 11-year old named James and his friends.

Mr. Coudert said he envisions the Waterfront Center as the center of a wheel, its hub with spokes going out to other groups, all for the benefit of things in Oyster Bay. Together they will try to attract people to Oyster Bay hamlet.

"Motor boats need purpose," he said. And, they need a place to go for lunch and dinner. This is an incentive to rejuvenate Oyster Bay. Mr. Coudert said the current development didn't happen all at one time. "Things happen logically - like the sailing school acquisition. This was a marriage that had to happen: it was just a question of when."

He was pleased to mention a table of Doubleday Babcock Senior Center volunteers there for the day. He mentioned the Oyster Bay Power Squadron, whose Dan Durphy is teaching a boating safety course in the DEC building on the western waterfront.

He thanked Frank Bladykis for donating the Tahiti ketch, built in 1974 in Oyster Bay, to be used for sea training by the Oyster Bay Sea Scouts (who have been sailing out of the Sea Cliff Yacht Club) and for private charters.

"Frank, it's one of the nicest boats I've ever seen. It's in beautiful condition." Mr. Bladykis usually ties up his ketch at the Oyster Bay Marine Center during the Oyster Festival, as one of the boats on exhibit.

Mr. Coudert thanked the state and town for taking a leadership role and buying the property that is the Western Waterfront.

Senator Marcellino mentioned that they have brought tall ships to the Oyster Festival and tied them up on the Western Waterfront. "We expect the Oyster Festival 2002 to be bigger and better than ever," he said. The Waterfront Center helped open up the harbor areas to Oyster Festival goers, and will do so again this year.

Rob Crafa thanked two members of the Sagamore Rowing Association who attended the afternoon.

It was time for the raffles. Pat Marcellino won three raffles prizes. Doesn't it prove she's lucky since she's married to a New York State Senator!

The Tahiti is a 30 ft. ketch, not counting the spars. It is pointed at both the stern and bow, and was designed by John Hanna in 1923. Frank Bladykis donated the ketch to the Waterfront Center. He said the designer, John Hanna used to write articles about boating for magazines. He was deaf. "I bought a set of plans from his widow, who lived in Florida. The design was picked up by Mechanics Illustrated magazine in the Depression Days. They made and published the plans for sale for $10. I paid the widow $30, thinking that the plans would be more complete, but they weren't," he said.

The magazine said it would cost $1,000 to build and you could sail it to Tahiti, so a few hundred were built, he said.

"I sailed it on the Long Island Sound from Sandy Hook, Staten Island to Block Island. I had a Coast Guard Captain's License to cover that territory. They have to be renewed periodically because you have to know the waters, which change," said Mr. Bladykis, of Bladykis & Panetta, engineers.