1977

It was a late September afternoon in 1977. The day was turning to evening as Jack Rice walked down Flagler Boulevard. The South Florida sun cast tranquil rays of reflective light over the Intracoastal Waterway. Jack arrived in West Palm Beach on a Friday morning flight from Antigua. He was a little desperate, with no money for food or a place to stay. He had spent his last $50 paying real estate agents to look at their listings but found nothing he could afford.

For the past 18 months, Jack had been on a sailing adventure, which he set off on just three days after graduating from a boarding school in Massachusetts. He celebrated his 18th birthday in Paris and began the last leg of his trip in Africa, which landed him in Antigua aboard a 40’ wooden sailboat. With some direction from his father, Jack knew he needed to learn more skills to have a future on land. At this stage of his life, the only skills he offered were wooden and fiberglass boat maintenance, off-shore sailing, and some landscaping experience. He considered making sailing a career by studying for a captain’s license, but because of his learning disabilities and D average through middle and high school, the idea of having to study and take tests was too much pressure. He struggled with a fear of failure.

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