At Northwest Maritime, connecting communities with the sea is what gets us up in the morning—making the blue parts of the map feel like home and weaving maritime stories, stewardship, and careers into the identity of the communities where we live, work, and play.
She Tells Sea Tales, our annual storytelling night, brings all of that into focus. The event brings women storytellers to the stage to share their experiences of life on the water. Over 11 years these have ranged from hilarious to poignant to slightly worrisome, but they always captivate us.
This year, we heard about eye-poppingly dangerous ocean emergencies. We were advised never to leave for an overnight passage provisioned only with bananas and scotch. We re-lived a starry night in the Gulf of California floating in phosphorescence, and we were brought to tears by remembrances of shipmates lost at sea.
Two of our speakers had tales to tell that share the perspectives of a younger generation:
EmmyLou Reijnen is nine. She already told a Sea Tale at age seven. She has already completed two WA360s and plenty of other cruising and racing adventures. And yes, she’s a pro. She delivered her story from memory and hooked the room with her disarming humor—not least her race team name with her dad and grandpa, Unicorns With Pretty Horns, and their theme song Pink Pony Club. Then she took us through a rather harrowing grounding that ended with a seaplane ride to the hospital for a face X-ray (don’t worry – she’s ok!). What a delight it is to be in the presence of this young girl. Her joy on the water is contagious, and no one in that room can wait to see what she does next.
Emilia Ramsey grew up in Northwest Maritime’s education programs, starting with Girls Boat Project and moving through several others. She later attended the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding and now teaches in our Port Townsend Maritime Academy program. When our team first met Emilia, we recognized a young person of depth and intelligence who approached everything with care and intention; but was still building the confidence to take up space in the world.
To see her onstage, a poised, confident woman of 21, was extraordinary. Emilia spoke with composure and power about restoring the lifeboat Dorjun, which had been entrusted to her by Northwest Maritime just prior to her high school graduation. She described the moment she realized the boat needed stewardship and wondered, “Maybe I could do it?”
That realization set her on a new course. She delayed college, went to work in our Boatshop and joined the 120-year lineage of people who have cared for Dorjun. As she put it, “Every task was a lesson, and every lesson a step forward.” Elegant prose and an inspiring outlook from a young woman whose horizons are genuinely limitless.
She Tells Sea Tales is only one night each year, and every time I wish we could do it all over again. Watching those stories ripple outward through the audience gives me great hope that we can build a future more connected to the sea, each other, and ourselves.
– By Katie Oman, Interim CEO, Northwest Maritime
To support Northwest Maritime programs like the ones that EmmyLou and Emilia have been involved in, visit: nwmaritime.org/support/give
