Our first encounter with Rick Waltonsmith was the SSC presentation at the St. Francis Yacht Club in January of 2019. Rick reached out the next day through our website, writing that he would gladly staff an exhibit when the museum opened. Little did he know what that meant. It was nearly a year before we rolled out the SSC’s first exhibit at our 2019 gala, and 26 months before the SSC’s first popup event at Call of the Sea. Through it all, Rick has stayed on as one of the SSC’s most reliable supporters.

Rick is retired from a previous life as a Silicon Valley executive in the opto-electronics industry. He grew up in Seattle as an early baby boomer to parents who had been in the military during the war. Rick studied English, Journalism, and Creative Writing at the University of Washington, and narrowly missed being drafted to go to Vietnam. His boating life started with his family, who owned a 26-foot Chris Craft. They took Coast Guard safety classes and would sleep in the boat’s bow after an eight-hour cruise to the San Juan Islands. Rick noted that his father wasn’t very mechanical, but didn’t elaborate on what that might imply on a small boat in Puget Sound…

Rick’s earliest sailing experiences were in high school with a fleet of Geary 18s on Lake Washington. The boats were constructed of wood planks. Their masts would float, which kept them from turtling in a capsize. He got his instruction from Rob Lane, a high school friend who he is still in touch with today. Rob said to him “I will teach you to sail, but you’ve got to come up here and do some work first.” Rob was talking about caulking the seams. It was a good introduction to what boats are all about.

That connection brings us to the more artistic themes in Rick’s life, one of which is jazz. Another, which started with wood carving at Camp Orkila when Rick was just 12, is sculpture. Today, Rick has his own sculpture studio, working in bronze, brass, steel, stainless steel, and more recently, dyed epoxy. He also notes his 38 years of happy marriage to his wife, Ann. Ann sails with him, but only in the tropics. Having Rick be part of the SSC has been a real blessing, and although he has been largely behind the scenes, the SSC would not be where it is today without him. Thank you, Rick!

The SSC has partnered with cryptocurrency donation site, The Giving Block, to accept cryptocurrency donations. The first donation has already hit the books. Will yours be next? Click here to donate with crypto.

In this third installment of World Class, we will delve into the microbiome and why it is at the core of maintaining our health and energy for everything we do. This is an exclusive for SSC volunteers as part of our commitment to give back to the people who are giving their time.

We are privileged to have Krystal Thomas-White and Lars Anderson collaborating to lead this session. Krystal recently completed post-doctoral research at Stanford University and is now a Senior Scientist at Evvy. Lars holds a PhD in biology and heads the SSC Exhibits Team.

A group of girls play on a sea wall, scooping up critters in a net. Youthful energy and playfulness benchmark our concept of health, while a large array of diseases cluster at the other end of the age continuum. Countering that are the health benefits of fresh air, sunshine, exercise, and socialization that can all be found in sailing.