The sun’s rays reflected over Tellico Lake as boaters lined up Saturday morning to receive blessings and prayers in the annual Blessing of the Fleet ceremony at the Yacht Club.
For more than 20 years, the Tellico Village Cruising Club has organized the ceremony as a means to kick off the boating season for members and non-members.
“It’s an annual maritime tradition,” Pat Ezell, club commander, said. “We’ve maintained that maritime tradition by making sure everybody’s going to have a safe and successful boating season on Tellico Lake. This year, we were blessed with beautiful weather. We had about 25 club members participate, and then we had several people who live on the lake that came and participated. The last several boats were from Kahite, so they organized a group to come participate in the blessing this year.”
The tradition originated in ancient Mediterranean and Greek fishing communities, where a priest would bless fishermen and boaters for a bountiful and safe season at sea.
The Rev. Ingrid Schalk, pastor of Shepherd of the Lake Lutheran Church, officiated the ceremony for the second straight year.
She blessed all boats with holy water and a prayer as they passed by the docks.
“It’s a blessing for me, but even more so, I can just tell it’s a blessing for the folks that bring their boats,” Schalk said. “We’re in the Easter season now and we have all this new life coming about. I recall a couple months ago where we had problems with water, where there was just way too much and people experienced losses and damage throughout this area. To see this happening, this means that new life is returning in God’s beautiful creation here in Tellico Village.”
Schalk believes the ceremony is an opportunity to minister to others.
“They must have some faith connection that they would come have their boat blessed,” she said. “That gives me hope, too, that others in our community share the same faith in our God that watches over us, and we look to God for blessings in all that we do. I’ve said it many times that I don’t just minister to the congregation that I serve, which is small in comparison to others here, but I see myself as a minister to the community in all that I do.”
The Cruising Club is made up of nearly 150 members and regularly emphasizes the importance of boating safety.
“We’re a very active club,” Ezell said. “We promote fun, safe boating. We really encourage all of our boaters just to have a great time on the water in their boat and to do it safely. We have a monthly safety topic at all of our meetings that we always try to cover.”
Members of the Tellico Boaters Assistance Response Team were on the last boat to pass through the ceremony, which was something Schalk was pleased to see.
“For T-BART to receive the funds, this is how I want to see that utilized,” she said. “They’re key should there be a disaster. I believe it was this last year there was a drowning and they did not give up. They kept working, so we want to be part of that community effort.”
Ezell and other boaters are excited for the start of a new season on the water.
“I think that is one of the big bonds that kind of holds us all together,” he said. “You can feel in the Saturday raft-offs the energy and the enthusiasm as all the boaters arrive and wait their turn to be called in by the captain. You can see everybody is just champing at the bit, waiting to get the last boat tied up so we can get on the water.”
