Sylvia tied loose, we nudged her from the comfort of the dock and slid into the night. Gliding smoothly into the darkness gave me a feeling of sudden freedom, a merging with the elements as she swung toward the channel. As captain, I issued my first command, ‘Now sing ye lubbers, else there’ll be no dessert tonight!’”

That’s writer, adventurer Bob Simpson recounting one night of a 25-year tradition he held with a handful of other seasoned watermen of the Crystal Coast – Christmas caroling on Bogue Sound aboard his old wooden boat – the Sylva II.

Early in 2017, I set about to write a story on the Sylvia, the sight of her with Simpson at the helm – familiar and revered by Down Easters for more than 40 years – but after a few days of digging, it was clear this was the story of Sylvia’s longtime captain as much as it was hers. Robert “Bob” Douglas Simpson passed away at the age of 92 in his home off Pelletier Creek on March 28, but his tales, along with his immeasurable contributions to North Carolina and nature-lovers everywhere are interminable.

He captivated me from the start: “So, you’d like me to weave you a tale or two?” he asked at the onset of our interview, and away he went. At 91, he retained an uncanny knack for painting a picture with words.
“He had such a wonderful way of seeing the world,” said his friend and adventure comrade of nearly 50 years, Gene Huntsman. “It showed in his writing, but it also showed in his conversations – out in the wilderness, out on a boat, he would see what other people couldn’t see; he pointed out what was overlooked as commonplace and made you appreciate the world around you.”

Simpson was born in South Dakota and returned there with his wife Mary after dive-bombing as a Marine in World War II, which he said was “… not a good way to make a living.” He was still on active duty and attending college when his mother was killed in an airplane accident, leaving his younger brother orphaned. He and Mary took a chance on a job offer at Captain Bill’s Restaurant in Morehead City and headed across the country with no place to live and his brother Bill in tow.

Arriving virtually penniless, housing options were limited, but over a cup of coffee at Capt. Bill’s, Bob was asked if he’d be interested in living aboard a boat, “… the best living you’ll ever have,” said the man. They walked out to the dock, where he was offered a deal on a 45-foot cruiser called the Silver Spray. Having no boating experience whatsoever, he looked to Mary who said, “I’m game if you are.” They lived on that boat for 17 years.

“It was a different time,” said his brother Bill, who shares his brother’s wry wit and a similar smile in his voice when hearkening back to simpler times. “The Morehead waterfront was entirely different,” he said, “for a while, Bob worked the waterfront as a photographer, catching the boats as they came in; he and Mary developed the pictures in a darkroom they made in the cabin of the boat, and they would charge $1.50 for an 8 by 10.”

After serving in the Korean War and traveling up and down the coast in the Silver Spray, they landed back in Morehead City. In the late 1960s, Mary’s mother came to live with them, and that’s when, as Huntsman puts it, “they swallowed anchor and moved to the shore.” Like everything in Bob’s life, the house comes with a story too: it was an old military surplus building which he had floated over Bogue Sound by barge to his property off Pelletier Creek.

Soon after, by way of a nasty storm known as the Groundhog Day Gale of 1976, Bob was introduced to the boat that many Core Sounders came to know him for – the Sylvia II. An historic charter fishing boat with even more tales to tell than Bob, she was sunk at the Sanitary dock during the night of the storm. Simpson took her off the owner’s hands a day later for $300. After restoring her, Mary and Bob set off for decades of adventures on the Sylvia II, much of it chronicled in Simpson’s book “When the Water Smokes: Tides and Seasons on a Wooden Boat.”

He had found the best way to make a living while living aboard a boat was to write home about it. He shared his observations in two other books, and about 60 years’ worth of columns as the Raleigh News & Observer’s nature correspondent.

“Those weekly outdoor pieces were like a magic carpet that whisked me away to beautiful and exciting locales … (more important, they) instilled in me a love of all things wild and a determination to do whatever I can to preserve and enhance our natural environment,” wrote outdoor writer Ed Wall, in a remembrance of Simpson.

His ability to affect readers’ relationships with nature aligns him with only a handful of other nature writers throughout history. And that is far from his only contribution. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Cape Lookout National Seashore in the 1960s – even providing the first tours to politicians on his World War II amphibious vehicle (which, his brother Bill said he actually camped on when their boat was full of other guests!)

He, along with three others that called themselves the “Fabulous Fisherman of Morehead City,” founded the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament to benefit the fisherman and others working the Morehead City waterfront. Mary went door-to-door collecting the first tournament purse – set for $300. Sixty years later, it is now the largest tournament of its kind in the U.S. and offers a $2 million purse. “It’s gone from trying to help the working charter boatman to something for the moneyed class,” Simpson once said.

He was also instrumental in the establishment of the North Carolina Maritime Museum, and the creation of the Skippers’ Roster Memorial in Morehead City, which honors charter captains with 10 or more years on local waters. In 2006, Bob was inducted into the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, North Carolina’s highest civilian honor.

When I spoke with Bob last March, he said he had enough material for three more books that just needed some “finishing touches.”

“You’re very welcome to take a look,” he said, “I’d even furnish a cup of coffee, but just know I’m getting a little creaky with age.”

I had pitched the story about the Sylvia II, having been introduced to her through my husband, a boatwright who was hired by the boat’s current owner, Bob Graham, to work on her restoration. I had no idea how far this story would take me – I got lost in the rich history of the Core Sound, wooden boats and the waterman’s way of life. So, when Bob invited me up for a cup of coffee, and a look at more of his writing, I jumped at the chance.

I drove up to Morehead City from Wilmington with my husband and then 9-year-old daughter. I had finished the story, which was published in Coastal Review Online, and brought him a copy. He didn’t seem interested in reading it – and I can’t blame him. He lived it, and told it, already. Much to my delight, he was more interested in telling other stories; the sunroom of his home overlooking Pelletier Creek felt like a museum of his life. I wanted to hear the tale behind every artifact.

My daughter spent most of her time there climbing an old oak tree on the front lawn. I didn’t know it at the time, but that old tree has a story too. Gene Hunstman told me that the electric company once showed up and told Bob they needed to remove some of its limbs. Bob asked if there was any other way to do it. They said no, so he told them to pack up their gear and go. He said he’d lived without electricity before and he could do it again,

“I’d rather have the tree than the electricity,” he said. I spied Bob smiling when he caught a glimpse of my daughter climbing on the tree through his window during our visit. I wonder now, if he was thinking he made the right choice. I know my daughter would think so.

As for the Sylvia II, Hunstman said, “Bob spent so much of his energy and intellect in preserving that termite nest – I would’ve loved to have had his memorial service out on the edge of the water with the Sylvia in the background.”

Bob Graham said it was his fervent wish to try and get Sylvia back to Bob Simpson for one last ride around Bogue Sound. “We probably fell only a couple of months short,” he said. “She will return, however, and when she does, I’m looking forward to a wizened old soul guiding my hand on her tiller one more time.”

Huntsman told me that Bob was the cheapest but the most generous man he ever knew. He deeded his home and property to North Carolina State University, which, according to his sister-in-law Susan, will be used to fund a curriculum in his name. Reportedly, developers had offered nearly $2 million for the property. When asked why he would give it away, Simpson said, “I’m giving it away because I’m ornery; I’ve seen too much natural beauty destroyed around here in my life, and I didn’t want to see this property turned into more condos or apartments.” I hope the university heeds his request.

In the brief time I am grateful to have spent with Bob, I felt a sense of ease about him – his face maintained a steady, tranquil smile during conversation.

“The real value is in the experiences involved,” Simpson wrote in his Sept. 24, 2004, column for the News & Observer. “It’s more important to be able to wander freely the wide-open spaces in Carolina or elsewhere, savoring the salt spray or wind in the trees, rod or gun in hand, dog by your side, listening to surf and gull, dove or waterfall – knowing that there are things still wild out there is much more important than filling creel or game bag.”

This is not the story of man who died, but one who truly lived. His friend Gene Huntsman affirms, “He just enjoyed life – enjoyed fishing, enjoyed camping, and he just enjoyed sitting with his evening cocktail and watching the sun go down – it was all a great adventure.”

In his book about his life aboard Sylvia, Simpson mused about what adventures might lie ahead for her and her next captain: “If some cool winter day you happen upon a classy antique anchored in a cove and catch the aromas of frying fish, hot biscuits and maybe clam chowder wafting across the water, you can expect to see a fellow with his feet up and a smile on his face, because he made a real good deal.”

Thanks for sharing your adventures with us, Bob. You made a real good deal.

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH — A collaboration to keep polluted stormwater out of public waterways is being recognized for its efforts Monday with the Environmental Protection Agency’s regional 2017 Rain Catcher Award in the community category.

The eight projects implemented by the group from 2013 to 2017 significantly reduced stormwater discharge into waterways, thereby reducing bacteria concentrations that affect recreational and shellfishing waters.

“The real value of these projects is that we now have scientific proof that they’re very effective – not just effective – very effective,” said Tracy Skrabal, Coastal Scientist and Manager of the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s southeast regional office in Wrightsville Beach. “And with that information and the information we gained on cost, we can use these models for other municipalities, other resorts, anybody who has a stake in clean water.”

The team received this award for eight projects under the Bradley and Hewletts Creek Watershed Plan. These projects redirect runoff from hard surfaces and allow runoff to filter into the ground, providing successful demonstrations of options to prevent polluted stormwater runoff for new development and redevelopment scenarios.

Stormwater collects bacteria and other pollutants as it runs off rooftops and across roads and parking lots. Historically, urban planners simply created a pathway for rain to flow directly into sewers and drains, which push it through to waterways. Stormwater runoff is the biggest polluter of coastal waters, according to the federation.

In the late 1990s, research on degrading water quality prompted an approach to urban design that not only tackles the problem of nuisance flooding and pollution to waterways, but looks at stormwater as a resource as well. “Low-impact development” or “green infrastructure” are terms used interchangeably referring to designs that work with nature to manage pollution and recycle stormwater.

Before modern-day infrastructure, people relied on collection of rainwater for their water needs. “We somehow engineered our way into a system of simply getting rain out of the way,” said Lauren Kolodij, the federation’s deputy director. Stormwater management through “low-impact development” redirects stormwater to the ground where soil and vegetation naturally filter and recycle it through groundwater recharge or evapotranspiration. Cisterns may also be used to collect it for re-use.

“We know we’re never going to be able to completely stop pollution at the sources – they’re too ubiquitous and consistent,” said Skrabal.  “And it’s not practical or cost-effective to treat the problem once it’s in the water, so what you have left is in between – and that’s where you want to put your money and your resources,” she said.

In 2013, the federation, which publishes Coastal Review Online, and the National Estuarine Research Reserve developed a collaboration to address the issue. Along with these founding groups, also on board were Wrightsville Beach; Wilmington; the Department of Transportation; the North Carolina Division of Energy, Mineral and Land Resources; the Division of Coastal Management; the state Shellfish Sanitation Section; the Cooperative Extension Service; the Division of Soil and Water Conservation; the University of North Carolina Wilmington; the Blockade Runner Resort; and professional consultants.

“I think part of the reason we were chosen (for the award) is because it’s pretty unique that you would have all these groups, from municipalities to nonprofits, private businesses and researchers, all working toward the same goal,” said Skrabal.

The projects were funded by grants from the National Estuarine Research Reserve Collaborative grant program, the North Carolina Environmental Enhancement Grant Program, Wilmington and by the privately-owned Blockade Runner Beach Resort.

Each project was designed to work with existing landscapes to redirect stormwater from impervious areas so that it can soak into the ground or into vegetation, essentially disconnecting the pathway to drains and outfalls that lead directly into waterways. Projects included redirecting flow from a disconnected street drain into a large rain garden; retrofitting city curb cuts to redirect runoff into a grassy median and regrading landscape in front of a restaurant to provide infiltration of runoff that was previously flowing into a drain.

The Blockade Runner invested $26,500 and staff time to support installation of a pipes and infiltration chambers to redirect stormwater flow that formerly drained from their property directly into swimming and recreational waters of Banks Channel.  Additionally, they connected a 2,100-gallon cistern to collect stormwater and condensate from their heating and air conditioning systems, and are now using the water to irrigate their gardens.

“We’re saving money and reducing our public water usage by 20 to 25 percent,” said Blockade Runner Environmental Coordinator Feletia Lee. “We’re trying to show that you can be a private business and do something that’s good for the community, because pollution affects everybody.”

Rainfall patterns are increasingly unpredictable and water pollution levels continue to increase due to intense development and a heavily concentrated agricultural industry along the coast. These projects attempted to address the uncertainty about which methods are most effective in protecting water from bacterial pollution, said Skrabal. To that end, the team funded research and monitoring of two sites.

Researchers led by Michael Mallin, a research professor at UNCW who focuses on the causes and effects of excessive amounts of nutrients in water bodies, found that infiltration chambers installed at one site reduced polluted stormwater discharge into Banks Channel by 93 percent, leading to a 96 percent load reduction in fecal bacteria. At another site, curb-cuts, swales, reverse stormwater inlets and the construction of a rain garden reduced stormwater discharge by 50 percent but with that, it reduced two types of fecal bacteria by 57 and 71 percent, respectively, and reduced total suspended solid load by 99 percent. Their results were published in the Journal of Coastal Research in January.

Funding was not available for research at all eight sites, but all have been monitored for effectiveness and have have shown to infiltrate nearly 100 percent of the maximum expected rain on any given day in Wrightsville Beach, and all but two proved to infiltrate runoff from much larger rain events, including during a storm that dumped 10 inches over a 24-hour period in 2016, according to the collaboration’s summary submitted to the EPA.

“I think this project is a great example of how small-scale retrofits can make a big difference in controlling stormwater and protecting coastal water quality, said Whitney Jenkins, the Coastal Training Program Coordinator for the North Carolina Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve and collaborative lead on the stormwater projects.

“I hope that we can transfer this concept to other coastal communities and help them protect their local water quality,” Jenkins said.

The awardees are to be honored Monday during the EPA’s International Erosion Control Association Municipal Wet Weather Stormwater Conference in Charleston, South Carolina.

Skrabal said the opportunity to speak about these projects at an international conference provides the platform to encourage widespread adoption of these relatively low-cost, low-impact designs that can be used on existing development through retrofitting and landscape design or during new development.

“We’re thrilled with this award, which pays tribute to all the partners involved,” said Kolodij.  “The long-term result we hope comes from this is that we foster a new generation of stormwater management.”

Learn More

• Read more about the federation’s stormwater projects

WILMINGTON — New Hanover County’s Department of Environmental Management, which oversees the county’s landfill, is partnering with University of North Carolina Wilmington on a pilot program beginning this July that aims to divert some of the university’s food waste into compost that can then be sold within the county for farming, landscaping and gardening.

The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners in January approved the purchase of the $340,000 composter, paid for in part with a $15,000 grant. The nearest composting facility is two hours away, so there is local demand and the program is not in competition with the private sector. The machine is expected to compost 75 tons of food waste each month, which will be combined with yard waste to create a nutrient-rich compost. It’s an idea that has worked in other areas.

The Coastal Environmental Partnership, which serves Carteret, Craven and Pamlico counties, has had success with a similar program converting landfill yard waste to compost, which they then sell to the public for $30 per ton. Along with diverting yard waste from the landfill, New Hanover County aims to tackle the issues that food waste causes when dumped in its landfill. Not only does food waste make up 50 percent of all solid waste in the landfill, taking up valuable space, but as it decomposes, it releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

“If we take out half of our waste stream, we can extend the lifespan of the landfill from 90 years to 180 years,” said Joe Suleyman, director of New Hanover County’s Department of Environmental Management.

This program is the latest of several initiatives Suleyman has advanced during his time leading the department. He arrived in 2013 at a decisive time in New Hanover County’s problematic history in waste management.

In 1979, New Hanover County’s Flemington landfill was closed after the EPA found numerous toxic chemicals and carcinogens beneath the unlined site and in nearby residents’ wells. For two years, the county moved its waste from one temporary site to another until finally, the county sprung for a $3.2 million lined landfill – the first lined landfill in North Carolina – which opened on U.S. 421 in November 1981.

At the time, energy prices were high and county officials determined that a waste-to-energy incinerator would conserve landfill space and lower tipping fees, the cost for dumping waste, which led to the construction of WASTEC in 1984, at a cost of $14 million. The goal for WASTEC was to earn enough money in energy sales – steam and electricity – to significantly lower, or even eliminate tipping fees. But, the facility never did manage to break even with energy sales and by 2011, it was badly in need of repair, so the county voted to shutter it temporarily. This led to two years of heated debate among New Hanover County’s board of commissioners about whether to refurbish the incineration plant or to outsource waste management to a private firm that would transport trash out of the county.

In 2013, much of WASTEC’s structures were demolished and repurposed into a hazardous waste collection site after it was determined the metal on the smokestack and other parts of the structure was so corroded that it was a danger to the public and county employees at the site. Meanwhile, trash at the landfill continued to rise.

Savings for the County

A debate about privatizing the county’s waste management deadlocked in a rare 2-2 tie in June 2014 when the five-member board of commissioners was short a member, as then-commissioner Brian Berger failed to show up at board meetings after being arrested on impaired driving charges. The tie meant that the incineration facility would remain closed and waste management would not be privatized.

Early in 2015, the state’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources, now called the Department of Environmental Quality, approved the county’s landfill site for a 273-acre expansion, 90 acres of which were set aside for lined waste-disposal cells while the remainder was allocated for natural wetlands, habitat restoration areas, buffer zones and soil borrow-pit operations.

This was good news to Suleyman, who had moved to Wilmington from Indiana two years prior to head up New Hanover County’s Department of Environmental Management, soon after the WASTEC facility was demolished.

“It has taken two and a half years to get to this point and now the focus will shift to redoubling our efforts to minimize disposal and increase recycling, reuse, and waste reduction,” Suleyman said at the time.

Commissioner Rob Zapple praised Suleyman as “probably one of the best hires that New Hanover County ever made.”

Under Suleyman’s leadership, the food waste composting plan was set in motion; a material recovery facility, or recycling facility was established; a household hazardous waste facility and “HazWagon” mobile collection unit were created; a double reverse-osmosis leachate treatment system was built; a construction and demolition debris collection service was opened; and the groundwork was laid for a methane gas recovery system. All of this happened while managing deliveries of trash, recyclables and yard waste from county waste collectors and from eight community recycling drop-off sites, as well as providing onsite disposal of everything from TVs to cooking oil.

Moreover, the tipping fee at the facility went from $59 per ton for municipal solid waste in fiscal 2012-13 to $50 per ton for municipal solid waste in 2016. The landfill does not charge for mixed recyclables and other recoverable material, such as yard waste, appliances, some construction material, household batteries and household tires.

In 2015, Sonoco Recycling LLC partnered with New Hanover County and the city of Wilmington to build and operate a material recovery facility at the former WASTEC location. The facility was originally planned to divert 25,000 tons of waste per year from the landfill, but it’s currently diverting close to 30,000 tons, managing recyclables from New Hanover County at about 18,000 tons per year, as well as recyclables from Pender and Brunswick counties. The annual savings from avoided operational, processing and landfill costs come to roughly $600,000 for the county and city.

Cardboard and mixed paper are processed on site by Sonoco; most cardboard today is sold to China. All containers – soda bottles, cat food cans, aluminum cans – get bailed and shipped to Jacksonville, to a facility with better sorting equipment, and then marketed. The glass gets crushed and shipped to Wilson, where it’s sold for things like highway reflector strips and sandblasting media.

“We ship about 24 tons of crushed glass each week and Sonoco earns $27 per ton for it domestically,” said Suleyman.

The Problem with Plastics

The biggest market for recycled plastics is in soda bottles and other bottles marked with a No. 1 on the bottom and those marked with a No. 2, like milk jugs and laundry containers. But as oil prices drop, the market for recycled plastic decreases because it’s cheaper for manufactures to use virgin plastic rather than to purchase recycled plastic.

“Rigid plastics – things that can be made into car dashes for instance, are sold for 2 cents a pound; a lot more labor goes into it that it’s worth, but it’s not going into the landfill and that’s what’s important to us,” said Suleyman.

Plastic makes up the second largest component of solid waste in the landfill, after organic waste.

Bonnie Monteleone, executive director of The Plastic Ocean Project, a Wilmington-based group working to solve the global plastic pollution problem, questions why profitable oil companies continue to receive government subsidies when they are among the top polluters, not just pollution from oil spills and emissions but also from plastic, which is made from oil. Monteleone suggests that recycling industries receive federal subsidies instead.

Currently, recycling is voluntary for New Hanover County residents. Wilmington offers an incentive in that residents select from three sizes of trash receptacles, the largest costing the most, and they receive recycle bins and collection at no extra cost. Other county residents pay a nominal fee for recycle bins and collection.

“The city does it right, in my opinion,” said Suleyman.

Even with the low- or no-cost option and eight recycling drop-off sites around the county, there’s only about a 10 percent participation rate for resident recycling. Zapple hopes for a discussion among stakeholders, beginning with the private haulers, to incentivize county residents to recycle. With 100 percent participation in recycling, revenue the county receives would increase. The county earns revenue on a tiered rebate schedule whenever the weighted average price for mixed recyclables is more than $60 per ton; the price is currently $95.17 per ton, earning the county $10 on every ton delivered to the recycling facility.

Other Materials

In July 2016, the construction and demolition debris facility opened at the landfill.

“When I got here, this site used to accept barely 800 tons a day – now we’re over a 1,000 in the span of four and a half years and a lot of it is due to the massive amounts of construction going on around here,” said Suleyman.

The facility charges $50 per ton for construction debris and the processing cost is $36 per ton; the recovered materials either increase or decrease revenue, depending on the commodity. For example, wood waste costs the county $10 per ton in tipping fees, but the county makes about $100 per ton for scrap metal and $80 per ton for cardboard. “But, the main driver is saving landfill air space, which costs us about $11 per ton to engineer and construct,” said Suleyman.

Five years ago, the landfill was expected to reach capacity in just five to seven years, said Zapple.

“Since that time, Joe came on board, and our audit last year expanded that to 95 years,” said Zapple. That number is expected to decrease by 10-20 years with the next audit. “But it’s still light-years from where we were just five years ago.”

The facility began accepting household hazardous waste in May of 2013 and as of January, a mobile hazardous waste unit, the “HazWagon,” sets up for once a week for four hours in Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach and Ogden Park. Suleyman said the HazWagon was created to make it easier for residents do divert contaminants like batteries, antifreeze, aerosols, fertilizers, household cleaners, motor oil and electronics from the landfill.

Yet another upgrade, which Suleyman describes as “our latest and greatest” is a $3.2 million double reverse osmosis water treatment system, which became operational in July 2016. All the leachate, or rainwater that has run through the landfill gathering pollutants along the way, is pumped to a 2 million-gallon capacity lagoon and then runs through a biological system that uses bacteria to eliminate some of the solids.

“We feed the bacteria dog food and sugar to help them reproduce as quickly as possible,” said Suleyman. From there, it runs through both reverse-osmosis systems.

“Right now, our water is meeting federal clean water drinking standards, so you can literally drink it,” he said. The treated water is pumped into the Cape Fear River at about 50,000 gallons per day.

In addition to the pilot program with UNCW, the site is being fitted with piping to trap the gas and process it for use in generating power. The site is currently generating enough methane to power 2,600 homes. Suleyman plans to have a fully operational methane collection system operational by 2019.

Despite all the advancements ties, waste disposal has increased 10 percent every year for the last three years, as New Hanover County continues to grow. Following that trend, Suleyman predicts the landfill will reach capacity in about 65 years. He hopes that emerging technologies currently being tested at small scales will be refined and available for use at a commercial scale before then.

Learn More

• New Hanover County Recycling

WILMINGTON — A child gently drifts on a wooden swing hung by dock rope from the rafters of an unassuming workshop near Wilmington International Airport. Behind the swing – and a resting border collie that migrated from a neighboring shop – history is in the making, or rather, the restoring.

As the final wooden plank of the hull of Sylvia II, said to be the oldest charter vessel in existence in North Carolina, is put in place, owner Bob Graham raises a glass of whiskey in celebration of the milestone. The builders had signed their names and etched the date of this “whiskey plank” party – perhaps the third such celebration for this vessel  – upon the final plank before settling it into the hull. This chock of Sylvia II’s history will remain hidden, like so many yarns in this vessel’s storied history, until time or circumstance commands it to the surface.

Stories of the past seem to seep out of Sylvia II’s woodwork, inciting chatter about Down East Carteret County culture, history, geography and, of course, a few fish tales. As guests spanning generations sip whiskey or play on the swing, depending on their age, it’s not lost on some that this party, which took place on Feb., 16, came just two days, and 83 years, after Sylvia II’s keel was laid in Morehead City. Fisherman and boatbuilder James Riley Willis did that on Valentine’s Day 1933.

Willis and his partner Micijah Adams were regarded as master builders of Core Sound boats, which were designed for the shallow but typically choppy seas off the shores of Carteret County, and are distinguished by their round sterns that provide fishermen a working platform from which they pulled aboard their nets.

Willis named the boat after his granddaughter, Sylvia Willis Dalton. The first Sylvia is presumed to have met the fate of many Core Sound boats of that era: abandoned or destroyed after its working days came to an end. Sylvia II still bears a piece of its predecessor, the original cabin nameplate, which reads simply “Sylvia.”

Willis worked Sylvia II as a commercial fishing boat, supplying markets and others in the Beaufort area, including a Morehead City landmark, the Sanitary Fish Market and Restaurant, which opened its doors in 1938 with 12 stools and a kerosene burner. The famous attraction now offers seating for up to 500 diners.

The Navy commandeered the Sylvia II during World War II for patrols and supplies transport along the Outer Banks. After the war, Sylvia II was returned to Willis, who docked the boat at the Sanitary, beginning the boat’s charter fishing days. The mooring was also the site of the vessel’s near demise.

On Feb. 2, 1976, weathermen forecasted light and variable winds and a 10 percent chance of rain, but local watermen became increasingly concerned as they watched their barometers plunge steadily downward at dusk. Capt. Theodore Lewis, then skipper of Sylvia II, battened down the hatches and hoped for the best, but that night, the sea grew nasty and, during what later came to be known as the “Groundhog Day Gale,” the Sylvia II was sunk at the Sanitary dock.

‘She’s Your Problem’

In his book, “When the Water Smokes: Tides and Seasons on a Wooden Boat,” writer Bob Simpson recounts the exchange that would make or break the fate of Sylvia II as he and Capt. Lewis surveyed her mud-covered remains the morning after the storm:

“I’ve always liked her … seems a shame to let her go.”

“Two hundred bucks and she’s your problem.”

“Tell you what, Theodore, it’s a deal, but I’ll give you till tomorrow to reconsider.”

Coastal Review Online reached Simpson, now 91, at his home on Pelletier Creek and he was eager to “weave a tale or two,” as he put it, about Sylvia II.

By the time of the exchange on the dock that day in 1976, Bob’s wife Mary had already become accustomed to life at sea, thanks to a similarly hasty decision made in that same harbor 18 years prior. The couple and Simpson’s younger brother, who was put in his charge after their mother died in an airplane accident, had just arrived in Morehead City from North Dakota. The Simpsons had been introduced to the area during Bob’s time serving active duty in the Marine Corps.

Simpson was having a cup of coffee at Captain Bill’s Restaurant in Morehead City and talking over housing options when a local asked if he ever thought about living aboard a boat.

“It’s the best living in the world,” the man declared, per Simpson’s retelling of the story. “Let me show you a boat.”

They walked around the waterfront and Simpson stepped aboard a 45-foot cruiser, the Silver Spray. Simpson turned to his wife and said, “What do you think?” Her reply, “I’m game if you are.”

“We ended up buying a boat,” Simpson said. “Well the bank bought the boat and we paid them for it – and we lived on that boat for 18 years.”

By the time the Sylvia II was sunk, the Simpsons had parted ways with the aging Silver Spray, but over the years, the couple had acquired a home – on dry ground – and were by no measure looking for another investment. They talked it over that night, in the way Simpson explained in his book was their customary fashion when big decisions were at hand.

“Suits me if it suits you.”

The next morning, the Simpsons paid Lewis $300, beginning the Simpsons’ foray into saving the Sylvia II. After hoisting the boat from its murky resting place, Mary Simpson assigned herself to mud removal. Mary was well suited for the job, as she could fit her entire body through a hole in the bow.

Once fully restored, the Simpsons embarked upon decades of adventures aboard the Sylvia II, traveling up and down the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. Bob, a seasoned nature writer, reported many of these experiences for the News & Observer of Raleigh before chronicling his accounts in his book.

Mary died in 2005, and as Bob and Sylvia II aged, their days on the water faded. But, Simpson made sure to get the Sylvia II back to the Sanitary dock every Valentine’s Day for a birthday celebration.

Later, Simpson set about securing a future for his beloved boat, which included a failed attempt at landing the Sylvia II at the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort and a discussion among wooden boat enthusiasts about creating a nonprofit group to manage a restoration. As time took its toll on the boat, Simpson decided to place an ad in Wooden Boat Magazine.

A Missing Zero?

Meanwhile, Bald Head Island transplant Bob Graham, who had for years been looking for a wooden boat to restore, came across a photography exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh entitled “Workboats of the Core Sound,” by Lawrence Earley. Graham was fascinated with the stories of these disappearing boats and the vanishing way of life associated with them. But he had his eye on buying and restoring a Concordia yawl, a wooden sailboat designed in 1938 for cruising and racing. He had tucked away the idea of owning a Core Sounder until, he said, “Two things happened, I got old and the sailboats got more expensive.”

Then one day, Graham was thumbing through Wooden Boat Magazine, and spotted the Syvia II.

“There she was in the back of the book,” Graham said.

Just as Simpson had nearly 40 years prior, Graham bought the Sylvia II for a bargain. Graham initially thought there was a zero missing from the asking price. Unable to recall the exact price, Graham said he recalled paying about $2,800.

Asked whether the restoration had been similarly affordable, Graham smiled. “No comment.”

In 2016, after initial work by Wilmington boatbuilder Richard Reid, Graham asked Mark Bayne, a lifetime wooden boatbuilder and head of Cape Fear Community College’s wooden boatbuilding program, to assemble a team to continue the restoration.

Under Bayne’s guidance, Chris Sargent, this reporter’s husband and an alumni of the college’s boatbuilding program, took the helm as the lead boatwright. Sargent, working alongside fellow alum Adrian Dobson and owner Graham now hope to have the Sylvia II seaworthy in time for the North Carolina Maritime Museum’s annual Beaufort Wooden Boat show in May. The restoration team hopes Simpson will be there to witness the Sylvia II’s return to Beaufort waters.

But the work is slow-going, said Sargent. “It was originally built by eye, so that’s the way we have to do it; we’re attempting to put everything back the way it was without a plan.”

Beyond the challenges of the build, Sargent said, countless hours are spent locating materials. “We gotta figure out who still makes certain things, and who’s willing to part with them.”

For instance, all the fasteners are silicon bronze, he said, “and of course, we’re working on a budget.”

Simpson wrote of similar challenges in tracking down materials for the original build. In his travels, Simpson came across Wallace Guthrie, who had reminisced about going over to Bogue Banks to find timber for the stem,

“Looked all over the woods ’fore we found one that’d suit William Riley (Willis),” Simpson quotes Guthrie as saying at the time.

Graham and his wife Tisha seem to have much in common with Bob and Mary Simpson, and the Grahams plan to be the next to test the Sylvia II’s endurance. Tisha says she’ll go anywhere.

“I’d like to see how long my bravery and seamanship can take her,” Bob said.

Graham has a manual for the Sylvia II in Simpson’s, “When the Water Smokes …” : “She’s tight and dry, and her handling is a dream: set the rudder amidships after aiming her, and, if she drifts slightly, just step to the side and she’ll change course.” But, he reminds, “She’s Carolina born and bred and that is where she belongs.”

Learn More

• Follow the restoration progress on Facebook

WILMINGTON — “As pleasant and delectable to behold as is possible to imagine” are just a few of the words Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano used to describe the natural beauty of what is now called Wilmington in his letter to King Francis I in 1524. It seems the area has managed to preserve its appeal, as Public Policy Polling’s North Carolina Culture Poll 2017 recently ranked Wilmington the most “favorable” of North Carolina’s major cities – 493 years after Verrazzano wrote home about it.

With its rich history, award-winning downtown Riverwalk, distinct beaches, moderate temperatures and, of course a new brewery opening almost monthly, it’s no surprise Wilmington maintained the first-place ranking it achieved five years ago, when a similar poll was conducted across the state.

But with competing cities like the increasingly trendy Raleigh and charmingly artistic Asheville, which took second and third places, respectively, what is it that so appeals to North Carolinians about Wilmington? Coastal Review Online asked some area “experts” for their take.

Dan Camacho, co-owner of Wilmington Tours and Java Dog Press, said he was particularly surprised that Wilmington outranked Asheville.

“When I talk to people both inside and outside of North Carolina, Asheville earns nearly universal and enthusiastic praise,” he said. But, upon further reflection he acknowledged, “Wilmington is unique in that it offers the beach, combined with an affordable, small city with lots of cultural amenities and a strong, historic downtown.”

There aren’t many coastal towns offering such an array of attributes, he said, “… because I looked all up and down the coast before moving here.”

In the early 1900s, when North Carolina’s population was about 2.5 million people, nine out of 10 residents were native to the state. Camacho is among a growing population of Wilmington and North Carolina transplants. According to research conducted between 2008 and 2012 by the University of North Carolina’s Carolina Population Center, 42 percent of the state’s population was born outside of North Carolina, and that number was closer to 50 percent for New Hanover County residents.

Camacho points out that “Wilmington seems to attract a lot of professionals that could live anywhere – people who live here because they choose to, not because they have to.” Restaurateurs, chefs and craft beer brewers are contributing to this transplant population as the culinary and brewery scene continues to explode in the Port City.

Although non-transplants are hard to come by, we spoke to one Wilmington native who is not at all restless. Gwenyfar Rohler, managing partner of Old Books on Front Street, said she has traveled far and wide and, in the end, chose to call her native city home.

“Obviously, the climate is desirable,” she said. “But, we have so much more: a thriving arts scene; film festivals; 38-plus theater companies; live music every night of the week; and living history seeping out of the walls.”

Rohler acknowledged that some of Wilmington’s history is “… incredibly distressing and painful,” an apparent reference to events such as the race riot of 1898, “But walking these streets offers a chance to interact with every facet of humanity from the good, the bad and the ugly to the unbearably beautiful – from the 1700s to the present day.”

And “much care has been taken to maintain the integrity of Wilmington’s historic district,” said Connie Nelson, public relations director with the Wilmington and Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau. Wilmington maintains eight National Register of Historic Places districts, in addition to the city’s downtown historic districts.

“Visitor research consistently shows that Wilmington’s historic riverfront is one of the two key (lures) to the city,” said Nelson.

This attraction was validated nationwide in 2014 when Wilmington was voted best American riverfront by USA Today’s Readers’ Choice poll. The Cape Fear River is the heart of the city and the catalyst for continued efforts to encourage enhancements to the downtown area. It is also the only river in North Carolina that winds its way directly to the ocean, which brings us to Wilmington’s other key draw – its nearby beaches.

Carolina Beach Councilman Steve Shuttleworth points out that “the diversity of our beach experiences is tremendous – each beach area has something completely different to offer, all positive, all different.”

Wrightsville Beach offers a vibrant restaurant and late-night scene, and is touted as one of the best surf spots in the U.S. Carolina Beach boasts a new boardwalk, affordable accommodations and the family-friendly summertime carnival. Kure Beach is home to the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher and the Fort Fisher Civil War National Historic Landmark. Masonboro Island Reserve, accessible only by water, is the longest undisturbed barrier island ecosystem in southern North Carolina.

“Wilmington is one of the best kept secrets in North Carolina, and other people are coming to recognize that,” said Shuttleworth.

People are definitely coming to recognize that. Kim Hufham, president and CEO of the New Hanover County Tourism Development Authority, announced in 2016 that “tourism spending by domestic visitors to New Hanover County increased again in 2015, representing the county’s fifth consecutive record-breaking year.”

Visitors to and within North Carolina spent $21.9 billion in 2015, an increase of nearly 3 percent from the prior year, according to the visitors bureau.

Shuttleworth points out that Wilmington continues to gain national recognition through publicity from competitions like the recent “Donut Showdown,” which aired on the Cooking Channel in January, when Carolina Beach’s own “Wake N Bake” donuts was named champion. And he said, the city benefits from the age diversity afforded by being a college town – home to the University of North Carolina Wilmington and Cape Fear Community College – that also attracts families and retirees.

Beyond that, Shuttleworth said the transportation networks here are strong, in addition to a favorable business climate and an easily accessible airport. And traffic is much less challenging than that of many other major cities in the state.

“Wilmington still feels like a small town – and I think a lot of people appreciate that,” Shuttleworth said.

Wilmington’s main advantages over other major North Carolina cities may be its two geological features that continue to captivate its explorers: the river and the sea. But folks here say it’s the community’s innovation, care, conservation and dedication to not only these natural splendors, but also to the town’s history and its continuous cultural growth that have kept it, as Verrazzano described, pleasant and delectable to hold.

“There are moments that are so beautiful they take my breath away: the sunset on the Cape Fear River, watching carnivorous plants – which is a strange mixture of meditation and horror, but more than anything, it’s the incredible community that buoys up this town,” Rohler said.

Learn More

• Public Policy Polling’s North Carolina Culture Poll 2017

Editor’s note: To stimulate discussion and debate, Coastal Review Online welcomes differing viewpoints on topical coastal issues. See our guidelines for submitting guest columns. The opinions expressed here are not those of Coastal Review Online or its publisher, the North Carolina Coastal Federation.

WILMINGTON — In these tumultuous times, while our elected officials and many in our media persistently incite polarization in attempts to drum up support or ratings, it’s heartening to witness Democrats and Republicans, young and old, fishermen and vegans all coming together in support of the same goal: improving and preserving the Cape Fear River basin.

Cape Fear River Watch held its ninth annual StriperFest Jan. 13-14 at Wilmington’s Coastline Conference and Event Center, kicking it off with a sold-out banquet and auction on the Friday night, followed the next day by a tag-and-release fishing tournament and a free community education day.

“Everyone can have their different points of view, but when it comes to the river, there is great agreement among divides; the Cape Fear River is the bloodline of our community,” said New Hanover County Commissioner Rob Zapple, who has attended the StriperFest banquet for years.

Zapple, a Democrat, was spotted crossing the banquet floor – and the political divide – in greeting former member of the North Carolina Senate, Republican Thom Goolsby, who was attending the banquet for the second time.

“Our Cape Fear River is a wonderful blessing that must be protected and preserved,” said Goolsby.

Guests at the banquet – some in three-piece suits and others sporting camouflage shorts – savored local seafood and sustainably raised pork, promoting our local fisheries and advancing awareness of what Cape Fear Riverkeeper Kemp Burdette said is the most pressing issue facing the river this year – pollution from North Carolina’s 6,500 concentrated animal feeding operations. In terms of production, North Carolina’s hog and poultry operations rank second and third in the nation, respectively, generating 10 billion gallons of animal waste, annually, and they are concentrated just upriver from Wilmington, in Duplin and Sampson counties.

“If the state doesn’t start enforcing existing laws and pushing for improved regulation where necessary, we may pass the tipping point and the river — our drinking water — will suffer greatly,” said Burdette.

Core to the mission of Cape Fear River Watch and a primary objective of StriperFest is fishery restoration. This issue, often contentious among fishermen and environmentalists, is what brought Capt. Jot Owens to Cape Fear River Watch nine years ago, when he helped found the striped bass, or striper, tag-and-release tournament. Capt. Jot said that while he sees an increase in the gap between environmentalists and fishermen due to today’s heated political atmosphere, “… working together, even with opposing political views, is all it takes.” And this event delivered.

The tag-and-release tournament brought fishermen, scientists and environmentalists together on the water in a combined effort to gather vital information on the striper population in the river.

“The bottom line is that the river needs help and it needs to be fixed for everyone; it’s too precious a resource,” he said. “Political stance aside, it’s all about the river.”

Like all good fishing stories, this year’s tag-and-release tournament was not without drama. A three-way tie among anglers, all of whom tagged seven stripers apiece, was narrowly broken by a 180-second difference between catch times.

While the boats were away gathering scientific data, local scientists were back at the conference center, kicking off StriperFest’s free Community Education Day. The early morning hours were dedicated to adults who were treated with science and information from two local experts on fishery restoration: Lawrence B. Cahoon, a marine biologist with the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and coastal scientist Dawn York of the Cape Fear River Partnership. But, education met youthful vigor at 11 a.m. as energetic kids poured into the conference room eager to touch a fish’s eyeball at the anatomy table, get an octopus painted on their face or head upstairs to the puppet show to learn about the rock rapids fish passage at Lock and Dam No. 1, which, to all you non-kids out there who missed the show, helps anadromous fish make it upriver to spawn; ask your kids what anadromous means.

It took the combined efforts of Cape Fear River Watch Educational Coordinator Kay-Lynn Plummer-Hernandez, and board member Melissa Juhan, who coordinated the activities, along with nearly 100 volunteers to execute this event. “Seeing so many people devote their free time to environmental education is monumental to me,” said Plummer-Hernandez. “We know that the only way to get people to care about and protect the river is to help them better understand it, and all the long hours of preparation and sleepless nights get paid for before my eyes through the eyes of the kids; the event is unlike any other.”

The success of the two-day event affirms that Cape Fear River Watch’s efforts to engage people and connect them to our community’s most important resource – our fresh water – are making real headway in restoring and preserving the Cape Fear River basin.

As an historic Inauguration Day approached upon an astoundingly fractured nation, this event offered a few days of respite from division and discord, as a patchwork of our community, all cut from different cloth, came together in reverence to the river – a reminder that our sacred places need from us a little grace and a lot of effort – and like the river, we are stronger when we converge.

Learn More

• Cape Fear River Watch