Jay Majors
Growing up in Salisbury Maryland, on the great Delmarva Peninsula, Jay found an
early love of the water and of boats.
He spent many days fishing and cruising the backwaters of the Chesapeake
Bay and the Wicomico River with his father and grandfather.
It was during those many fishing excursions that Jay learned about his
family history and their association with the water.
One of his dad’s first jobs as a young man was working for Chris-Craft building
their Sea Skiff’s. He always said
that job was one of his favorites.
He eventually worked for the local power company and retired after working there
for 35 years but his love for the water never waned.
He restored a 29’ Trojan on which he spent summers enjoying fishing and
spending time with his family.
Jay’s grandfather grew up a waterman working alongside his own father on the
Nanticoke River. Jay remembers many
stories that his grandfather would tell him of hunting and trapping along those
waters. The stories that Jay always
wanted to hear most were the stories of his Great-Grandfather.
Jay’s great-grandfather was the type of man who was always restless and
frequently sought out adventure.
Age and fatherhood tempered that somewhat but he always had a love for the
water. Given the name Mister at birth but never a middle name, he adopted the
initial R for his middle name. He
would joke that as long as he was alive there would be one man in the Major’s
family that people would have to call Mister!
Once he joined the crew of a ship in Baltimore, MD.
Their trip took them to New Orleans in the summer.
Once he arrived in port he quickly sold all of his winter clothes and
purchased summer attire. At the end
of the summer they loaded the vessel and headed north.
Mister didn’t realize how far north and by winter they had arrived in
port in Maine. Needless to say, he was
extremely cold and took the first opportunity to resign from his position and
head back south.
A story that Jay’s grandfather told was the time he joined the Coast Guard.
It was a job he greatly enjoyed until they were frozen in at Baltimore
harbor one winter. All the crew was
given the opportunity to go ashore until spring.
It was the end of his enlistment so he headed back to the Eastern Shore.
But the story the Jay has the fondest memories of and has influenced the most
was the time that Mister spent as Captain of the three masted schooner,
Levin J. Marvel.
He captained this old lumber schooner for three years taking passengers
up and down the Chesapeake Bay. He
always had a fondness and love for this vessel and had a picture of her on the
inside of his sea trunk. After
repeatedly requesting that the owners do the repairs that were needed on her and
repeatedly being rejected, he had to tender his resignation, fearful that the
she was becoming unseaworthy. In
1955 she sunk during hurricane Connie.
The captain at that time, who was also the owner, took her on an outing
with passengers and crew that fateful day.
While on their cruise the hurricane made a turn inland and caught the
Levin J. Marvel on the water. The
captain was inexperienced and to complicate matters she had been put into a
local shipyard where she underwent temporary repairs that did not improve the
seaworthiness of the vessel. Trying
to run to Holland Bay in the hurricane she was overcome by 10 to 15 foot seas
and capsized. 14 passengers and
crew lost their lives in this tragic but preventable accident.
Jay’s grandfather told him that the day she sunk was the only time he saw
Mister weep.
Sometimes life has a way of taking a person down very strange paths.
Although Jay always had a love for boats and the water he eventually
ended up practicing healthcare in the landlocked town of Kings Mountain, NC.
It was there that he met his wife, Crystal and they had their two
beautiful children Raegan and Morgan.
Although he ran a successful office there was always restlessness inside
of him. He knew that although he
had found financial success he had not found true success, the success that only
comes in doing what moves you and what you are passionate about.
In 2010 Jay sold his practice to pursue his dream of boat design and
building but knew that living in a landlocked city was not a place to pursue his
dreams. So in the summer of 2013
his family made the move to the beautiful coastal city of Beaufort, NC to
continue with his education in boat design.
He has studied at Yacht Design School, and recently has been working with
MacNaughton Yacht Designs on design work, and has started teaching the CAD
Course and early parts of the Main Curriculum at Yacht Design School.
Jay and his family enjoy spending as many days as they can cruising the waters
of Eastern North Carolina fishing, tubing, and above all else, enjoying the
beauty of the surrounding waters.