REPLACE THE KT MARIE FUND
Donation protected
This is Therese of the Cresalia Family, speaking for Peter and the whole family as we reach out for assistance and support for a devastating loss. Your thoughts, prayers and donations for the fundraising concert would be ever appreciated!!
Our brother Peter, number 7 of the 9 kids, has just suffered a horrible accident with his fishing boat. He is one of the youngest commercial fishing captains in the bay area and has been working towards owning his own commercial salmon boat for the past 4 years. He was able to buy the KT MARIE off of earnings from his first two years of fishing and doing bay tours. He's been repairing every single part of the KT Marie boat for the past two years, doing most of the work himself and replacing all sorts of parts of the engine etc investing his lifesavings, time, career and dreams into this vessel.
After two years of patience, hard work and diligence fueled by an intrinsic love of fishing and excitement to take his boat out and make money the stars aligned in terms of ocean conditions, salmon season being open, the boat finally operating properly and the fish finally biting Peter was able to experience just a couple short weeks of glorious fishing AND catching aboard the sweet little KT Marie when misfortune reared its head again on this brave, sweet and patient man.
THE STORY:
On the night of June 17 he set anchor for the night off the south coast of Point Reyes, he had anchored safely in this spot a couple times so figured he was okay and went to sleep for the night, only to be woken up at 2am to the boat hitting ground and water filling up the boat. His anchor had been set in sand that was too hard with a slippery grass growing on it and the rare strong south winds that night had caused the boat and anchor to drag to shore. Consistently the wind blows out of the Northwest and this switch to southerly winds in the middle of the night is rare, and has caused lots of boats to drag anchor and sink historically along the Marin coast. He burst into action immediately, radioing the coast guard and trying to fire up the engine to get it off ground and back to floating safely in water, but too much damage had already been done to the boat, the shaft was bent and the engine quit immediately. Peter found himself sitting atop the new freezer he had just bought and yet to even use, lifting his feet up as the cabin quickly filled with water radioing with the coast guard, who said they were not sending any help unless he wanted a helicopter ride home. Peter told them he was leaving the boat and climbing to safety himself - he quickly packed his backpack with the couple of tools and dry clothes he could reach for - and climbed off the boat and onto the beach - his heart breaking and pounding at the same time. In the middle or the night he clamored up the bluff and into a Point Reyes cow pasture - ducking under electric fencing and dodging giant cows in the dark. The Coast Guard notified the local sherif, National Park Police and Rangers and they sent a car out to pick him up. Walking down the road in Point Reyes towards home, the park police picked him up and kindly gave him a ride back to our parent's house in Lucas Valley. After a couple hours of sleep, he awoke to the living nightmare, walked into the kitchen with the look of death in his eyes quietly talking and holding back the tears saying he lost the boat - I jumped from the table where I was doing work to give him a hug and comfort him as he told the heartbreaking scary tale. My mom and I both hugged him and starting counting our blessings as we held back tears thanking God the crash happened on sand and not on rocks and that Peter left with his life and body in tact.
Peter and I went out to the boat that day, the family of the ranch kindly let us drive our trucks up close to the boat - we spent that day and the next holding back the tears as we pulled all the tools and gear out of sand and silt and off the boat, dragging them up the bluff. It was so heartbreaking seeing all the work and thought that went into rigging all the lines, all the hooks and weights lovingly put in place with the dreams of fishing dashed by this horrible turn of unfortunate events. Our Mom and Dad, were both there to help however they could, dad was out there all day when they removed the oil and cut the boat up and my mom offered support and helped pick up the fuel takes from the neighboring rancher who was kind enough to save them for Peter. We all kept up the words of encouragement, telling Peter to dig deep and trust that everything will work out and that he is strong and can rebuild this - Peter acted heroically and kept it together to make good decisions and be responsible in the face of such tragedy.
The heroic local boat salvage company came out and quoted Peter at up to $20k to safely cut the boat up and remove it from the beach and pull the fuel from the boat. He had just got new fuel tanks so didn't have any diesel fuel spilling fees to pay which was a pure god sent. But between the cost of removing the boat and fuel from the coast there and then the actual cost of the boat and all the work and time Peter had put into it he is looking at a loss of over $40,000 dollars. My heart broke as Peter quietly shared this with me on the bluff as we looked at the saddened KT MARIE beached on the sand after the high tide. Peter didn't have insurance on the boat so all this loss is directly coming out of his pocket. He is worried be able to fish ever again.
OUR ASK:
Our family will absolutely not stand by and watch him suffer on his own. These are the times we come together to show that no one needs to go it alone. We want Peter to know that he is loved and supported and his dreams can live on. As a family, we are all currently pooling what cash we can scrounge together to loan him to get another boat up and running as soon as possible so that his spirit doesn't completely break. But this was a really big loss and we could use the support of our community as well.
The patience, strength, and many many roadblocks Peter had overcome just to get to the point of being able to fish would have broke most anybody. There are hardly any young people in the modern world today willing to do the physically and technically hard work of commercial fishing, especially in the Bay Area. The industry is hurting and Peter and his younger brother Andrew are of the few willing to work grueling 48 hour shifts aboard boats, puking most of the time, working through the night. They truly love it. Peter truly loves this and his future is in fishing, we need to show him that the community supports this and comes together in times of accident and misfortune to keep its youth working and the delicious wild caught halibut, salmon and Dungeness crab you all love eating so much coming into port.
We intend to turn lemons into lemonade here - help us to show that the world isn't the cruel dark place it can sometimes appear to be. Please help Peter and our family pick back up from this loss.
We are putting the fundraising goal at $20k, but this is a loss of over $50k so absolutely anything helps and we are eternally grateful for whatever we get. The sooner we get these funds, the sooner we can get Peter back out - Salmon season is in full swing right now so LET'S get on it people!!!
In return for donations we have some really fun things planned - of course it will never be a dull moment with the Cresalia Family!!
1. THE KT MARIE // PETER CRESALIA BENEFIT HOUSE CONCERT
First off we are of course, going to do a benefit house concert at the family home in Lucas Valley - Donations of at least $40 gets entrance to the concert - lots of great live music and food!! For those of you that haven't experienced the utopian house concerts our family throws in our back yard, you are in for a treat. This concert allows ways for everyone to contribute to the cause. The concert date is TBD but will be in the end of August 2019 or in September 2019. We are going to determine the line-up and volunteer production staff and based on their availability come up with a date and create a facebook event asap.
Here are ways to contribute:
- MUSICIANS/SOUND that want to donate their performance please reach out to Michael Cresalia who is head of production - his email is [email redacted] - please reach out asap with availability so we can set a date
- COOKS/FOOD/DRINKS please reach out to Catherine Cresalia our in house chef and caterer extraordinaire - her email is [email redacted]
- AUCTION ITEMS - we will be auctioning off whatever you want to donate - please reach out to Jeanne-Marie our fundraiser specialist at her email [email redacted] and let her know what you want to donate - every bit helps and we feel this auction could be QUITE entertaining so please get creative here
- DECORATIONS/SIGNAGE/LIGHTING/AMBIANCE - reach out to Therese with contributions, ideas or if you want to help set up or clean up - [email redacted]
2. RIDES ON THE NEW BOAT OR SOME OF ITS' BOUNTY:
For Donations of over $150 people will receive a ride on the new boat if they want or some of its bounty!!
We love you all - and love conquers all!! We look forward to seeing y'all breaking it down on the dance floor and sharing in smiles and laughter as we pick up the pieces for Peter here.
Love and Light forever xoxox THE CRESALIA FAMILY
Our brother Peter, number 7 of the 9 kids, has just suffered a horrible accident with his fishing boat. He is one of the youngest commercial fishing captains in the bay area and has been working towards owning his own commercial salmon boat for the past 4 years. He was able to buy the KT MARIE off of earnings from his first two years of fishing and doing bay tours. He's been repairing every single part of the KT Marie boat for the past two years, doing most of the work himself and replacing all sorts of parts of the engine etc investing his lifesavings, time, career and dreams into this vessel.
After two years of patience, hard work and diligence fueled by an intrinsic love of fishing and excitement to take his boat out and make money the stars aligned in terms of ocean conditions, salmon season being open, the boat finally operating properly and the fish finally biting Peter was able to experience just a couple short weeks of glorious fishing AND catching aboard the sweet little KT Marie when misfortune reared its head again on this brave, sweet and patient man.
THE STORY:
On the night of June 17 he set anchor for the night off the south coast of Point Reyes, he had anchored safely in this spot a couple times so figured he was okay and went to sleep for the night, only to be woken up at 2am to the boat hitting ground and water filling up the boat. His anchor had been set in sand that was too hard with a slippery grass growing on it and the rare strong south winds that night had caused the boat and anchor to drag to shore. Consistently the wind blows out of the Northwest and this switch to southerly winds in the middle of the night is rare, and has caused lots of boats to drag anchor and sink historically along the Marin coast. He burst into action immediately, radioing the coast guard and trying to fire up the engine to get it off ground and back to floating safely in water, but too much damage had already been done to the boat, the shaft was bent and the engine quit immediately. Peter found himself sitting atop the new freezer he had just bought and yet to even use, lifting his feet up as the cabin quickly filled with water radioing with the coast guard, who said they were not sending any help unless he wanted a helicopter ride home. Peter told them he was leaving the boat and climbing to safety himself - he quickly packed his backpack with the couple of tools and dry clothes he could reach for - and climbed off the boat and onto the beach - his heart breaking and pounding at the same time. In the middle or the night he clamored up the bluff and into a Point Reyes cow pasture - ducking under electric fencing and dodging giant cows in the dark. The Coast Guard notified the local sherif, National Park Police and Rangers and they sent a car out to pick him up. Walking down the road in Point Reyes towards home, the park police picked him up and kindly gave him a ride back to our parent's house in Lucas Valley. After a couple hours of sleep, he awoke to the living nightmare, walked into the kitchen with the look of death in his eyes quietly talking and holding back the tears saying he lost the boat - I jumped from the table where I was doing work to give him a hug and comfort him as he told the heartbreaking scary tale. My mom and I both hugged him and starting counting our blessings as we held back tears thanking God the crash happened on sand and not on rocks and that Peter left with his life and body in tact.
Peter and I went out to the boat that day, the family of the ranch kindly let us drive our trucks up close to the boat - we spent that day and the next holding back the tears as we pulled all the tools and gear out of sand and silt and off the boat, dragging them up the bluff. It was so heartbreaking seeing all the work and thought that went into rigging all the lines, all the hooks and weights lovingly put in place with the dreams of fishing dashed by this horrible turn of unfortunate events. Our Mom and Dad, were both there to help however they could, dad was out there all day when they removed the oil and cut the boat up and my mom offered support and helped pick up the fuel takes from the neighboring rancher who was kind enough to save them for Peter. We all kept up the words of encouragement, telling Peter to dig deep and trust that everything will work out and that he is strong and can rebuild this - Peter acted heroically and kept it together to make good decisions and be responsible in the face of such tragedy.
The heroic local boat salvage company came out and quoted Peter at up to $20k to safely cut the boat up and remove it from the beach and pull the fuel from the boat. He had just got new fuel tanks so didn't have any diesel fuel spilling fees to pay which was a pure god sent. But between the cost of removing the boat and fuel from the coast there and then the actual cost of the boat and all the work and time Peter had put into it he is looking at a loss of over $40,000 dollars. My heart broke as Peter quietly shared this with me on the bluff as we looked at the saddened KT MARIE beached on the sand after the high tide. Peter didn't have insurance on the boat so all this loss is directly coming out of his pocket. He is worried be able to fish ever again.
OUR ASK:
Our family will absolutely not stand by and watch him suffer on his own. These are the times we come together to show that no one needs to go it alone. We want Peter to know that he is loved and supported and his dreams can live on. As a family, we are all currently pooling what cash we can scrounge together to loan him to get another boat up and running as soon as possible so that his spirit doesn't completely break. But this was a really big loss and we could use the support of our community as well.
The patience, strength, and many many roadblocks Peter had overcome just to get to the point of being able to fish would have broke most anybody. There are hardly any young people in the modern world today willing to do the physically and technically hard work of commercial fishing, especially in the Bay Area. The industry is hurting and Peter and his younger brother Andrew are of the few willing to work grueling 48 hour shifts aboard boats, puking most of the time, working through the night. They truly love it. Peter truly loves this and his future is in fishing, we need to show him that the community supports this and comes together in times of accident and misfortune to keep its youth working and the delicious wild caught halibut, salmon and Dungeness crab you all love eating so much coming into port.
We intend to turn lemons into lemonade here - help us to show that the world isn't the cruel dark place it can sometimes appear to be. Please help Peter and our family pick back up from this loss.
We are putting the fundraising goal at $20k, but this is a loss of over $50k so absolutely anything helps and we are eternally grateful for whatever we get. The sooner we get these funds, the sooner we can get Peter back out - Salmon season is in full swing right now so LET'S get on it people!!!
In return for donations we have some really fun things planned - of course it will never be a dull moment with the Cresalia Family!!
1. THE KT MARIE // PETER CRESALIA BENEFIT HOUSE CONCERT
First off we are of course, going to do a benefit house concert at the family home in Lucas Valley - Donations of at least $40 gets entrance to the concert - lots of great live music and food!! For those of you that haven't experienced the utopian house concerts our family throws in our back yard, you are in for a treat. This concert allows ways for everyone to contribute to the cause. The concert date is TBD but will be in the end of August 2019 or in September 2019. We are going to determine the line-up and volunteer production staff and based on their availability come up with a date and create a facebook event asap.
Here are ways to contribute:
- MUSICIANS/SOUND that want to donate their performance please reach out to Michael Cresalia who is head of production - his email is [email redacted] - please reach out asap with availability so we can set a date
- COOKS/FOOD/DRINKS please reach out to Catherine Cresalia our in house chef and caterer extraordinaire - her email is [email redacted]
- AUCTION ITEMS - we will be auctioning off whatever you want to donate - please reach out to Jeanne-Marie our fundraiser specialist at her email [email redacted] and let her know what you want to donate - every bit helps and we feel this auction could be QUITE entertaining so please get creative here
- DECORATIONS/SIGNAGE/LIGHTING/AMBIANCE - reach out to Therese with contributions, ideas or if you want to help set up or clean up - [email redacted]
2. RIDES ON THE NEW BOAT OR SOME OF ITS' BOUNTY:
For Donations of over $150 people will receive a ride on the new boat if they want or some of its bounty!!
We love you all - and love conquers all!! We look forward to seeing y'all breaking it down on the dance floor and sharing in smiles and laughter as we pick up the pieces for Peter here.
Love and Light forever xoxox THE CRESALIA FAMILY
Organizer and beneficiary
Therese Cresalia
Organizer
San Rafael, CA
Peter Cresalia
Beneficiary