Edited to add: I am selling a property to raise the money to loan Jim for a new boat. He has found a boat in California that will fill the void left by the sinking of the Melissa Leah. He is borrowing $31k for the purchase, which he will pay back by his own hard work at the temporary labor jobs he can pick up along the way- usually $20 an hour. I know his character and he will not rest until its all paid back.. He works harder than most men in order to live out his dreams in this the one life he has to live. I admire and respect him and want to do all I can to help. There are still more expenses to cover: She will need new running and standing rigging before we sail back to Hawaii, plus he needs to pay for a survey, storage fees and the plane tickets to go back to the mainland and take her on a sea trial. All the funds raised here will go to that effort. I appreciate more than words can say the generosity and good will of those who have contributed to this effort, and those who still might want to be a part of getting this sailor back to the sea.

This is the story of Melissa Leah .

It starts with a man, a man who loved adventure. His first big adventure was right after high school graduation. He talked a friend into biking with him from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, no support team. It was just two ten speed bikes, two friends and what they could carry on their backs and in their pockets, including his journal. Fast forward thirty-eight years.

The man had recently lost everything- his money, his business, his love. He had bet big and it had almost paid off, until it didn’t.

He found himself at the beach, staring out at the Pacific Ocean, angry at his loss, as crushed and broken as his dreams.

Until he decided to reframe the story. He decided this could be another kind of adventure. What did he really want out of life? And how could he create that for himself as a middle-aged man with only dreams and a few thousand dollars to his name?

Out of that moment was born the vision for the Melissa Leah. Jim found her in the San Francisco Bay area. She took all he had left.

Earlier his dream had been to sail the world after being able to take an early retirement. The current revamped version was a working retirement, where he would work and save for several months until he could save an amount that would allow a few months off to sail. That would mean blue collar work, but Jim was never afraid of hard work. This was doable.

As he lay in the forward berth that first week, the enormity of the job ahead of him started soaking into his soul. He had bought a sea-worthy vessel who had already crossed the Pacific once. But she had been sadly neglected. She needed a tremendous amount of work. She needed a refit from the hull out.

Many would have quit right there, but Jim was never afraid of hard work. Over the next three years, all he did was work. He worked construction in the daytime, and on the Melissa Leah every other waking hour.

When I say he rebuilt that boat from the hull up, I mean it was all the work of his hands. Every part of Melissa Leah : her sole, her deck, her cabin, her cockpit, even the cargo netting, Jim created by hand. He made a beautiful multi-colored laminate for the frames and the galley, the hatches, the tiller and the steps. He redid all the wiring himself and with the same devotion to detail and excellence that he brings to all he does. He replaced the rigging. He even built the dinghy himself. If it was on or near the Melissa Leah, it was created by the sweat of his brow and the hours of his life. Melissa Leah was a work of art.

It took three years to get her sea-worthy, but once she was ready, Jim and Melissa Leah started heading out to the ocean. During those three years, Jim met a lot of other live aboard boat owners on the dock who never finished their project boats and never set sail. That’s where the term dock rat took hold in his mind. He was a dock rat too, but unlike the others, he always intended to sail. Melissa Leah deserved it. And sail they did, Jim Edmark and Melissa Leah .

The pair of them traveled down to Southern California, up to Oregon and Washington and eventually made it all the way to Alaska. Jim is no rich man. He had to stop to work and save many times, always with an eye to the next leg of the voyage. He let employers know from day one, when he has sailing money and the weather’s right, Melissa Leah has to get back to the ocean.

I met Melissa Leah in Oregon. I joined them on adventures in the Puget Sound, and later sailed from Portland to California with Jim. I moved to Santa Monica, and Jim sailed the Melissa Leah down to Marina del Rey where they spent the winter preparing for what would be her final adventure. Jim and Melissa Leah were sailing to Hawaii in June 2023.

The sail to Hawaii from Marina del Rey took 34 days. That story is chronicled on the YouTube channel Sailing With a Dock Rat. So is the story of her tragic demise.

I can’t bear to write it out, but on Jan. 11, 2023, Melissa Leah was mortally wounded in Hilo Bay, Hawaii. Beloved friends from the Na Hoa Holomoku Yacht Club braved the winds and waves in the dark of night to try to save her. The best Commodore Rhonda Reep could do was to beach her gently in front of the club property.

Melissa Leah is no more.

And that, friends, is why I started this Go Fund Me account.

Melissa Leah was not just a boat, she was a living work of art. Melissa Leah was the heart and soul of a sailor. She was his life savings and his home. That journal Jim kept of his first adventure out of high school went down with her. The loss is more than words can convey.

Jim is older now and he has even less savings than he did in 2010. He is technically homeless since Melissa Leah was his home. He’s working, as always, this time as a dishwasher. He’s reading audiobooks in the early morning hours and editing them in the afternoons before work.

Please help us raise the money for a new boat for this worthy sailor, the dock rat who dared to sail away. His passion for sailing is not diminished, though his heart is filled with grief over the loss of such a beautiful and precious friend, Melissa Leah . Our goal is $35,000.00, as we have no place or tools for a rebuild right now. Any funds over $35k will go to the Na Hoa Holomoku Yacht Club , a worthy organization in its own right.

Na Hoa Holomoku Yacht Club has been amazing, trying to save Melissa Leah , making sure all the hazardous materials were off once it was clear she wouldn’t make it. The club volunteered their time to salvage the boat, whisking away much of the wreckage before Jim could see the painful process. We are donating all the salvaged parts from the Melissa Leah to the clubs youth program garage sale, to say thank you. We wish we could do more.

Mahalo for reading this far,

LaDonna Sasscer, friend of the Melissa Leah