My Story

My story begins as a child growing up in Morehead City, North Carolina. My earliest recollections are of swimming in Bogue Sound or on Atlantic Beach and fishing in the salt marshes with my father and brother for puppy drum and speckled trout. Currently, I reside in Morehead City and teach at a public school in Carteret County. While spending considerable time on the water during my summers off from teaching, I recognized the need to offer navigation skills and local knowledge to new and out-of-town boat owners. Thus, I began a service in 2004, providing boating lessons primarily to women. During a boating lesson in summer 2020, I had a female client who was having difficulty seeing over the vessel’s steering console. Literally, she was standing on her tippy toes, straining to see above the console’s grab rail to scan the waterway ahead for oncoming boat traffic. As we returned to the dock, I began to ponder a remedy for her situation. Hence, the idea of a dual-purpose helm mat was hatched.

Fold N Sea is a deck mat for center console boats. Unfolded, it is a soft, cushiony mat, providing foot and leg comfort to the boat operator. When folded at its hinged center, Fold N Sea provides added elevation to the vertically challenged. The roll-out of my product was delayed by Covid, followed by a cancer diagnosis. In 2024, Fold N Sea, a woman-owned, small business, finally makes its debut into the boating world.