A rainy and cold January day? It didn’t matter! Patrick Igoe and Kevin Trebilcock were outside our Marion boat barn painstakingly taking care of Heron, the beloved Drascombe Gig that sails in Onset Bay with its iconic red sails.

As Patrick and Kevin worked, there was bantering. After several days of work, the final project challenge had presented itself. It was time to flip a boat that weighs about 2,200 pounds without the equipment that you’d typically find at a boatyard.

What’s the story behind Heron? She was built in England in 2012, and three years ago, we bought her second-hand from a sailing school in London where she once sailed in the Royal Jubilee on the Thames River for Queen Elizabeth II. She now resides with us at the Coalition’s Onset Bay Center.

Heron is our adventure sailboat with an engine – we use her for many of our kids’ programs at the OBC because she’s so versatile and an all-around great boat for activities like sailing, rowing, and fishing.

Since 2022, thousands of people have sailed on Heron, with kids catching sharks (dogfish) off her side. Stuart Downie, VP of Outdoor Exploration, even brought his two-month-old daughter sailing on her at one point.

A few months ago, our team began to notice signs that Heron was becoming worn. Her hull developed osmosis, and we found tiny bubble cracks throughout the gel coat and fiberglass.

So, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. We hauled her out of the water and brought her to our Marion facility for some in-house repairs. We sanded her bottom down, cleaned out the damage, and filled the holes. It was the first project of this kind for us. Igoe, our Boat Captain and Facilities Technician, laughed as he recalled the process. “Refurbishing Heron took a lot of patience,” he said, but after three weeks of hard work, she is looking much better!

After all the work on the hull, they brought in VP of Outdoor Exploration Stuart Downie; the three of them figured out how to safely flip the boat, using only pulleys and brute strength.

Though she’s not quite ready to hit the water just yet, keep an eye out for her this spring. Come summertime, Heron will be used for the Onset Bay Center’s intro to sailing classes for kids and adults. Check out kids’ programs here, adult programs will be announced soon.

The Heron is part of our mission to connect people to the bay. Because we strongly believe that when people feel a personal connection to the bay and its watershed, they become environmental stewards.