Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
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NORTHSHOREMAG.COM 74 MARCH 2020 I N - D E P T H PHOTOGRAPHS BY JARED CHARNEY The sun shone clear and bright over Marblehead Harbor as a small group of people boarded a sailboat at the Boston Yacht Club. Within an hour, the boat had set sail, champagne was popped, and sea spray cooled everyone's faces on the beautiful late summer day. Days like those—lovely, peaceful, idyllic—are what wonderful experiences and memories are made of. But for people dealing with cancer, such carefree experiences are often hard to come by. That's why that particular late summer sail was so special. It was facilitated by Sailing Heals, a nonprofit organization that provides spirit- lifting days at sea for cancer patients and their caregivers. "It's been so joyful to see people forget for a A program offers an uplifting reprieve to cancer patients and their caregivers. BY ALEX ANDRA PECCI SOOTHE SAILING while that they have cancer because [being sick] is so all-consuming," says Trisha Boisvert, co- founder and executive director of Sailing Heals. "I think people just physically and emotionally leave their cares on land." Sailing Heals is made possible by a generous network of donors, volunteers, and medical professionals who refer patients and their caregivers—called VIP guests—to the program. The program's benefactors include volunteer sailboat captains who host VIPs on their boats for an afternoon. Host captains' sailboats must be at least 34 feet long, in pristine condition, and U.S. Coast Guard approved, according to Sailing Heals. Among those host captains is John Tagiuri of Gloucester, who says he gets as much out of the experience of taking VIPs and their families out Trisha Boisvert (left) is the executive director of Sailing Heals. On this particular trip, cancer patient nurses are out for an afternoon on the ocean. CONTACT sailingheals.org on the water as the guests do. "It's satisfying to get these people out of their element and into a whole different scene," he says. Tagiuri recalls one woman who was so sick he had to lift her onto the boat, and another man who was so thrilled at being offered the boat's steering wheel. It's as though the