She learned to tie a bowline when
she was four. Gini was the oldest of
five children in a family that spent their summers farming and boating from an
island off the coast of Maine. It was a
family never without a boat, she says.
 |
| Virginia (Gini) Russell on patrol. Photo by Phill Smith |
“A boat to get to the island, a
boat to deliver farm products, a boat to get to town, a boat to bring back
groceries and a boat to get off the island for the winter.” All sorts of wooden boats and all sorts of
maintenance, which they all did themselves.
In the 1950s it was college in
Boston and teaching before marriage, then motherhood with four children. (She has nine grandchildren.) They bought land on Cape Cod and built their
own house and her husband built a sailfish as their first family boat. “Later we added larger and then larger
sailboats. Sailing and racing became a
big part of our summers. Somewhere along
the way we acquired a Boston Whaler. . .
With kayaks and board boats and a variety of sailboats, there are still
15 to store every winter.”
In 1974 Gini volunteered at the
New England Aquarium, wound up getting scuba certified and then taught in their
education department until 1991. Her
husband died of cancer while their two youngest children were still in college.
 |
| The 65-foot schooner Memory. Photo from Gini's files |
In 1995 Gini bought a villa at
Highland Woods in Bonita Springs and met Frank Armour at the Bonita Springs Library with his
hands full of boating books. “He
convinced me I should come Wednesday night to a Flotilla 96 meeting at Wiggins
Pass. The place was jumping with men and
women. Could I help teach? Could I visit
schools? Would I like to be part of an
all-girl patrol?” She borrowed Frank’s
Boating Safety and Seamanship book, passed the exam, and a week later she was
off to the PX in Fort Myers to get a uniform.
Back in those days, she says,
there were fewer members and more boats.
“We were always out on the water.”
In 1996 the flotilla had 65 members and 16 boats in frequent use. Today
she says she has trouble signing
onto a patrol because they’re usually full.
The all-girl patrols she enjoyed are part of the distant past.
In addition to her boating skills
in navigation, knots and lines, and maintenance of all kinds, Gini’s many
interests include birding, tennis, skiing, golf, photography and travel. She just returned from a three-week trip to
Africa and plans foreign travel every year.
She has often chartered and sailed in foreign waters and scuba dived
with veteran divers. Her thirst for
adventure on the water is still keen.
“There’s lots of the world to see
and many new harbors to sail or motor into,” she says. “ Water and being in or on it has been a
large part of my life.”
