Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Paul “Bo” Bollinger Jr. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Paul “Bo”, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We love heartwarming stories – do you have a heartwarming story from your career to share?

I was working in the office when one of our young volunteer skippers called me to report on what he had just heard at one of our sailing events for people with spinal cord injuries. It had been a beautiful day on the water with plenty of sunshine and wind. While sailing near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge near Annapolis, a guest, a sailor with disabilities, turned to our volunteer skipper and said, “Thank you for taking me the farthest I have ever been from my wheelchair and the memories of what put me in it.” When I heard this comment, I broke into tears. The young man had told us how great we had made him feel by teaching him how to sail, and it really meant a lot to him. I still tear up when I tell this story to others.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I have always been on the water my entire life, boating, sailing, and swimming. Moving to the Chesapeake Bay region was a dream come true in many respects. I was working for Boeing Company and we had an employee outreach committee that created programs for Boeing employees to get involved in the community to help others. I came up with the idea of hosting a Wounded Warrior Sailing Regatta in Annapolis. To get the necessary boats, I contacted Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating (CRAB) and its founder Don Backe. He agreed to support the event with skippers and boats. The event put me in direct contact with CRAB and I enjoyed the experience enough to keep working on the regatta even when I left Boeing. After a few years, the President of CRAB asked me to serve on the Board. I agreed, and after one year, the Executive Director position opened up, so I stepped in with my wife to manage CRAB. It was in tough shape with $20,000 in the bank and the only employee quit after two months. So, my wife Elizabeth and I ran CRAB for a year before being hired full-time to be the Executive Director. Within a year, we replaced the fleet of 30+-year-old boats with a brand-new fleet of Beneteau First 22A’s. Then the Board decided to find a new location to operate the sailing program, and I found a marina to purchase. After two years of working with the State of Maryland, Anne Arundel County, and the City of Annapolis, the marina was purchased by the City, and CRAB signed a 40-year lease to build and operate the premier adaptive boating center in the country. The $6M ABC will open in April 2023. CRAB expects to triple the number of guests with disabilities, recovering warriors, and children from underserved communities who want to learn to sail and boat on Chesapeake Bay.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources was responsible for awarding Program Open Space grants for the acquisition of land for access and protection of nature. The Assistant Attorney General that worked for DNR took over 5 months to look at the grant request CRAB submitted using Project Open Space funds from the County and City. The AG was strongly opposed to public funds being used exclusively for people with disabilities, recovering warriors, and youth from underserved communities. The AG asked CRAB how we would know if someone was disabled? An organization that had been in existence for 28 years serving the disabled community. Then the AG commented that recovering warriors were not covered by the ADA. Likely because the AG did a LexisNexis search of the ADA law and did not find the term wounded warrior. The law was written in 1991, and the term did not exist then. Next, the AG came back to CRAB and said children from underserved communities were not disabled. The Police Resource officers whom we work with strongly disagreed with the AG. Instead of continuing to fight with the AG, we agreed and worked out an understanding with the City (CRAB’s landlord) that we would continue to serve children regardless of the AG’s decision. Finally, the AG said emphatically that we had to be open to the general public. So, we agreed that the CRAB Adaptive Boating Center would be open to the general public from November 1st to March 1st on a reservation basis to see the property, but not go on the dock or go sailing. The AG agreed, and we finally received the grant after one year of negotiating and working with the AG.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

When we started this project, the County Director of Parks & Recreation said this project would take at least 2-3 years to complete. Little did I know that he was an optimist. It has taken CRAB 6 years to get the Adaptive Boating Center built. I am not sure that if I knew it was going to take this long that I would have undertaken this project. However, now that it is coming to completion, it is exciting to know that CRAB will have the premier adaptive and accessible facility in the country.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.crabsailing.org
• Instagram: CRAB Sailing
• Facebook: crabsailing
• Linkedin: CRAB Sailing
• Youtube: CRAB Sailing

Image Credits
CRAB, Inc. certifies it owns the rights to the pictures submitted. No names are to be credited with the pictures.