Water Resources People and Issues
One of the first major trips was when I sailed a group up to a meeting of the
WSTB at Woods Hole. There were four of us who were going, we were all
good sailors, so we sailed the boat up to Woods Hole, which is an ocean
passage. In the fall of 1983 I planned to take one boat down south to charter
it out of Fort Lauderdale so this was another rationale for retiring from the
academy.
I also hoped to spend more time doing things with my wife who always wanted
me to just stop work because with the possibility of an annuity from the
academy and the federal annuity, I didn't really have to work for pay. She also
thought it was great for me to get some relaxation on the sailboat, although she
was never interested in sailing.
Where do you keep your boats?
A: Both of them are now chartered out of Annapolis. When I took that boat south
in 1983, I chartered it through a broker in Fort Lauderdale. We had already
booked one charter for ,600 for four weeks. That was a very nice fee, even
after the charter agency took 35 percent. So I thought it would pay to take it
down south. But the competition was very stiff and we only had a couple other
charters, so I didn't take the boat down anymore.
But it was fun taking the boat south in the fall and bringing it back in the spring
via the Bahamas. I also took one charter party to Key West. We had planned
to go to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, but there wasn't enough time.
National Groundwater Policy Forum, Conservation Foundation
While I was on the ocean in the spring of 1984 bringing the boat back from the
Bahamas, my wife started to get calls from Governor [Bruce] Babbitt who had
agreed to chair a groundwater policy forum for the Conservation Foundation.
And that's when I got involved with the Conservation Foundation. Babbitt
never could understand why my wife couldn't get in touch with me. But I
finally got his message and got in touch him, and he asked me if I would be the
executive director for the National Groundwater Policy Forum. After I read a
lot of material and talked to Bill Reilly, I agreed. Bill Reilly had been on the
Commission on Natural Resources and I knew it would be a pleasure to work
with him. I also knew
Clark, who had been at EPA before he came to
210
Previous Page
