Rising Waters is being painted permanently on the pilings at Community Boating Center in New Bedford. The photos here are progress photos as we still have final details to add and masking tape to remove. The process was complicated by standing on floating docks to paint, rising and falling with the tides, wind, and waves. Except during a 3 hour window around high tide, most of the lines were out of reach, even though we used more moderate predictive models than usual. The project has never felt more palpable than at this site.

You can see some of the CBC sailing fleet on the dock. Thanks to CBC staff and volunteers, and the generosity of their community, we were able to paint the lines using boat bottom paint which should last a long time, even in this salty environment. The process, documented below, used patterns to set the lines at the same spacing and widths. The height overall was a bit tricky as we were standing on docks that continuously changed height.

Community Boating Center's mission is to teach positive life values to youth through boating. With New Bedford’s past, present, and future tied to the waterfront, it is crucial to use the city’s number one asset to engage and inspire area youth. The goal is for CBC to be a leader in the Greater New Bedford Youth Development Community. CBC connects thousands of greater New Bedford youth, ages 5 to 24, to the water through a wide range of year round programs, providing youth development, education, mentorship and access to a network of community partners.

The photos below show the process from bare pilings through (almost) painted lines on all 16 pilings! At the end are some beautiful photographs by Rose Scherlis of the Marine Commerce Terminal, Port of New Bedford, MA, where wind turbines are being staged, assembled, and shipped.