O N WATCH BY PETER SCHRAPPEN
Fond Farewell Headed to new adventures on land, PETER SCHRAPPEN signs off by paying tribute to a local boating great.
It was the simplest of actions—sweeping the kitchen floor. The epiphany it brought my way, however, has stayed with me for years. What if there is a force greater than us who is sweeping the various floors on our life without us ever noticing? The close calls on the road; the chance meetings that lead to finding your life partner; heck, the chance meetings that occurred eons ago that led to you being on the planet… Heavy stuff for sure, and worthy of further thought, but as I put together my last On Watch column, I want to pay tribute to one of those forces in our boating lives that came before us and recently passed away. If you have boated in Washington state, and moored your boat in a marina or a residence, chances are you can thank Mr. Wendell Stroud for making it so. What’s more if you love the South Sound and in particular, Tacoma, you already know Mr. Stroud. You see, Wendell was an unabashed evangelist for boating, boating access, and Tacoma (not to mention his family who I would hear about over Caesar salads at Johnny’s on the Dock in Tacoma). He and his late wife Pauline built their company Marine Floats, which outlasted their competitors as the Puget Sound’s and, as far as I can tell, the rest of the state’s preeminent marina and dock builder. If that sustained success was not enough, he cast a wider vision for Tacoma by championing the City of Destiny with whoever would listen. If you knew Wendell, first of all, you are lucky. Second, you know that he followed up his straight talk with action. Wendell was the sort of person who was wise enough to know that you never want to be first exchanging business cards during a crisis. Rather, he would jump upstream in relationships and build the needed rapport, whether it was with lawmakers, agency staff, or prospective customers (and sometimes these three were the same person) before it was time to do business. On second thought, maybe he saw this entire process as doing business in the Stroud way. Befriending Wendell helped my career at Northwest Marine Trade Association in innumerable ways. As I step away from Northwest Yachting and my career at NMTA, I will thank my lucky stars for the time I spent 66
upstream with patient boating advocates. They took this kid from St. Louis, who had been on a boat about four times in his life, and turned him into a boating zealot. People like Wendell brought me into their lives, answered my questions until the lights turned off, and showed up to impact boating decisions. You may be wondering, what’s next for me. What began as a lark in 2012 with this boating magazine (“Um, I’m supposed to come up with a fresh idea every month?”) turned into a bright spot of my month. “Don’t bother me, I’m writing” would relieve me from countless household chores (there’s that kitchen sweeping again). By the time you read this column, I will have settled into my role as the American Waterways Operators Vice President of the Pacific Coast region. This 75-year young association represents the interests of the tugboat, towboat and barge trades. While I am leaving boating, I will stay firmly entrenched in this maritime vocation. There will be some overlap on issues (the No Discharge Zone comes to mind). More than that, my success both at NMTA and looking ahead at AWO started upstream with the people who came before me who built a system of success firmly rooted in respect, kindness, and joy. That readies me for this new opportunity and compels me to live my life upstream in a manner that my two kids will want to emulate as they get older. I will leave you with these three questions: What floors are you sweeping for others? How are you living your life today more upstream than you did yesterday? What would you like remembered in your obituary? Thank you for reading; like Phish sang, “This has all been wonderful, and now I’m on my way.” For the past 11 years, Peter Schrappen has been Northwest Marine Trade Association’s Government Affairs Director. Keep in touch with his latest adventures via his podcast, The Joy of Life, all about leadership, kindness, and joy with Puget Sound leaders at: thejoyoflifepod.com.
