Long Island Crew

Patrick is a Long Island native, that originally got involved in Operation Reel Heroes while a cadet at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Patrick was full ahead from day one after seeing some pictures of the inaugural Cape Cod event on a friend's Facebook. After reaching out to Arthur about getting involved in the 2016 event, Mass Maritime tossed Patrick the keys to a 28’ Mako to run in Operation Reel Heroes Cape Cod. Patrick was hooked instantly while running the boat that day. He often reflects on how simply taking someone fishing and doing what we love could bring so much happiness and peace to veterans that we owe so much.  

Patrick got more involved with the Cape Cod event the following year and upon graduating returned to Long Island. After missing the Cape event and desiring to continue aiding Wounded Warriors, Patrick and Summer asked Arthur for his blessing in starting their own venue of the event in their hometown, Huntington. Patrick is still involved in the Cape Cod event and enjoys coming up to his old stomping grounds and trying his luck at some fishing. With his trusty sidekick Summer, they truly have set the bar high. 

Summer is the brains, good looks and quick thinker of the Long Island crew who also usually handsomely outfishes all the men. As far as event prep goes, “dialed in” would be an understatement when describing Summers' involvement.  

While Patrick’s rigging the boat and chatting up the Captains, Summer is the behind the scenes master. Getting the auction/raffle/captains bag items in order is no small task, but when coupled with juggling all the other tasks such as boat-warrior pairings there is no other person better at the task. Although she would likely be the Admiral, Summer is the best mate any captain could want and truly is the reason that the Long Island event is what it has become.