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07/29/2020 09:30 AMThe Westbrook-based non-profit Pay4Ward, which takes veterans sailing to help deal with PTSD, was recently presented with a 32-foot sailboat by Work Vessels for Vets of Noank.
The Erickson sailboat, appraised at $24,700, was first donated to Work Vessels for Vets, which equips injured veterans with the tools they need to start a business or pursue career education.
The boat is 50 years old and does require work, but Ray Hayes, Pay4Ward president, is happy to have a second vessel. Hayes will continue to take veterans out on day trips on his 22-foot Herreshoff Eagle, which was also donated and required work to fix up. Both boats are docked at Harry’s Marina, which has offered Hayes heavily reduced rates since he started the organization six years ago.
“My 22-foot is a perfect day sail,” Hayes said. “Out in the Sound for a day on a nice day.”
The Erickson sailboat will give him and the veterans he sails with the opportunity to sail further and possibly stay overnight.
“I take guys who need to get out and unstress themselves,” he said.
He draws on their experiences in the military to try to turn difficult memories into positive ones.
“In the infantry [it’s] all coordinated teamwork,” he explained. “If you’re caught in a crossfire you all have to get down and run...and you keep that up until everybody’s safe.
“All that coordinated work becomes a negative when you get home,” he continued. “It reminds you of things. I’m trying to bring that to a positive: If he pulls the rope, you have to let go...What happens on the boat happens seamlessly and everybody’s happy. When we get back to the dock, everybody’s happy and proud that we did it.
“Sometimes they want to learn” about sailing, Hayes said, and sometimes “they learn in spite of themselves. The work “keeps them busy. It’s mundane chores. The Army is great with that. I kind of figured that’s why the Army does it. The mundane chores become very useful—they keep your mind not on what’s on around you, but on the mundane chores.”
But once they’re sailing, the real work starts.
“When we sail, we can talk—I mostly listen,” he said.
As a Vietnam veteran, Hayes has personal experience with the aftermath of trauma. He credits a pair of trips for veterans with Outward Bound for his recognizing how healing it is to be on the sea with other veterans.
“Twenty-two guys a day kill themselves,” Hayes said. “These are combat veterans. They survive combat and take their own lives when they get home.
“If I save one life, it’s worth it,” he says.
If you, or if someone you know is considering suicide or other forms of self-harm, you can call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.