shoreupdate.com

A dozen volunteers from the Dorchester Skipjack Committee braved the recent heat wave to spruce up the skipjackNathan of Dorchester. She was hauled out at Generation III Marina in Cambridge for her annual bottom work.

The crew spent a week scraping, sanding and painting the hull and sides of the skipjack, getting her ready for the second half of her sailing season, which runs through early November. The Nathan is now back at her dock at Long Wharf, where she offers public sails on weekends and private charters for any occasion.

In addition to sails from her Cambridge home port, the Nathan will travel to Baltimore for that city’s Defenders Day Celebration in September and to Solomons Island for Patuxent River Appreciation Days in October.

She will also participate in both the Deal Island Skipjack Race on Labor Day and the Choptank Heritage Skipjack Race in Cambridge September 25.

The nonprofit Dorchester Skipjack Committee owns, operates and maintains the Nathan, which was built in 1994 by volunteers in Cambridge. She is the last skipjack on the Chesapeake Bay that was built to be a dredge boat.

For more information, to charter the boat or to volunteer, contact the Dorchester Skipjack Committee at 410-228-7141 or visit its website, www.skipjack-nathan.org.