Susan Cairns Fischer, overlooking the water while standing outside of the Landing Restaurant, said that she recently retired from her career as a special educator. She thought that her newly found free time presented a perfect opportunity to author the third edition of “Marblehead Boat Names,” which catalogs and presents the names of boats from within the town.
“I grew up in Marblehead, and I grew up on boats,” Fischer said. “My grandfather was a big sailor, my parents were sailors. And so, I just grew up on boats my whole life.”
The idea for the books came to Fischer at the suggestion of her husband, Jack, when 30 years ago, they were out with friends and family at Brown’s Island, where Fischer wondered aloud about the name of a boat. Fischer discovered then that others were curious about the names of boats, and so her work on her first book, published in 1994, began.
Fischer said that one of her favorite boat names that she found while putting together the new book was that of a friend, called Carried Away.
“They got carried away at how much they spent on the boat,” Fischer said.
She added that the boat can also be seen as “carrying them away” into retirement.
“Some boats are named for family members, some for songs, stories, or jokes — it’s a little bit of everything,” Fischer said. “It’s whatever is meaningful to the boat owner, is what I’m finding.”
Determining a boat name is no easy feat, Fischer said.
“You’re gonna have it for 10, 15 years… I’m finding a lot of people are collaborating with colleagues to come up with that name, and that’s your name,” Fischer said. “That’s your rep, the name is representing you.”
Fischer said the Marblehead community is interested in the boat names, and that that interest is partially why she felt inspired to write the third edition of the book.
“Because of so many requests I’ve been receiving from boaters to do a new edition, because they have a new boat, or they kept the boat name the same, but want to update the story, or they have additional boats — they want to add to their fleet, if you will,” she said. “I’m having so much fun. I’m meeting so many people, and people are thrilled to share their stories, and they’re looking forward to learning about other stories.”
Fischer worked with her two daughters, Sarah and Kylie, on the new edition of the book.
“Sarah designed the book cover, and she’s the editor; it’s just been such a great experience to work together like that,” Fischer said. “If Sarah and I are kind of muddling through something, and we want an objective opinion, we can go to either Kylie, or my husband.”
Fischer added that she has been having so much fun with the project that she doesn’t consider it to be work. She said that it’s just nice “to make people happy. It’s nice to be nice.”
Whether on a powerboat, a kayak, or a raft, the important part for Fischer is being out on the water.
“I don’t really care what I’m in… It’s my happy place. Whenever I’m on the water, it’s a feeling of calmness. And I find from so many other people’s stories, that it’s their place of happiness and calmness and relaxation,” Fischer said. “It’s just time to spend with the family, away from TV, away from phones, away from the hustle of the city or the town, wherever you’re from.”
Fischer said that there is a real sense of camaraderie within the boating community. She said that if you’re on a boat in the water, and you pass someone else in a boat who you don’t know, they’ll often wave to say hello.
“If you wave to them, they’ll wave right back. It’s just so common. Everyone’s just happy on the water,” she said.
“I take pride in Marblehead. And I know how proud everyone is, being in this community and being on the water,” Fischer said. “So, it’s nice that I can be a vessel for people to be able to share that with others.”
While the first edition got its stories mostly from Fischer and her father dropping fliers into boats, the newest editions had entries collated with the help of Fischer’s website, MarbleheadBoatNames.com
The newest edition of Fischer’s book is expected to be released in late June on Amazon, as well as the following locations in Marblehead: Marblehead Mercantile, Shubie’s, Saltwater Bookstore, F.L. Woods Nautical Merchants, and the gift shop at Abbot Hall.
