Get your motor running

Andrew Edwards

The summertime theft of a boat motor left disabled sailing students

stranded onshore, but thanks to community donations, a new engine is

ready to go.

Sailing Fascination is a Newport Beach-based group that offers

sailing classes for students with various disabilities. Tom Tolbert,

one of Sailing Fascination’s volunteer directors, found out a new

motor arrived Thursday, allowing the sailing classes to resume next

year.

“We’re just happy to be able to redo this,” Tolbert said. Before

the theft, Tolbert and Sailing Fascination students used Fascination

2 -- a J-24 sailboat -- for cruises around Newport Harbor. The

program took two weeks off in late July, and Tolbert learned that the

boat’s engine had been stolen after he came back from the break.

Getting donations to replace the engine took less time than

ordering the new model, Tolbert said. Tolbert’s group had received

about $2,600 by the beginning of September but ended up on a waiting

list for the engine, a 9.9-horsepower model with electric start.

At one point, Tolbert said Sailing Fascination was in 90th place

on a waiting list and did not expect to get an engine until next

year. That changed Monday, when he received a call from Mercury

Marine, the Wisconsin company that built the motor, informing him

that the replacement had been shipped out.

“It was a real big relief,” Tolbert said.

One of the larger donors, Tolbert said, was a men’s group from

Mariner’s Church in Irvine that contributed about $1,600.

A member of the men’s group, Mark Hogan, said he learned of

Tolbert’s need after his father-in-law met Tolbert at the Fashion

Island food court.

Hogan relayed the problem to his group, and a member immediately

pledged to make a donation, Hogan said. That member wished to remain

anonymous.

“It was one of those ones where it was the right thing to do,”

Hogan said. “There was no hesitation on my part. There was no

hesitation on his part.”

Tolbert survived a cerebellar aneurysm in 1994 and became a

student at Sailing Fascination a few years later, after his recovery.

When not on the water, Tolbert sells long-term-care insurance, but

his supervisor, Craig Matesky, who donated $250 toward the new

engine, said sailing is Tolbert’s passion.

“When he goes out there every Tuesday, when he’s done with the

sailing, his attitude is sky-high,” Matesky said.

For more information on Sailing Fascination, call (949) 640-1678.