photo by Lou Marino

The article below appeared in the Bristol Phoenix on June 7, 2018. It is written by Christy Nadaline. The pictures are from Lou Marino.

Every girl wants a prom dress that makes her feel great. Not every girl gets to wear a prom dress that says so much about who she is.

Emilia Marino, daughter of Lou and Karen Marino of State Street, didn’t want just any dress when the graduating Bay View senior attended her final prom last week. She managed to marry her creativity and her favorite sport into an unforgettably fun frock.

“My mom taught me to sew when I was young,” said Emilia. “She’s a fantastic seamstress.”

At the same time, Emilia’s dad, and the East Bay Sailing Foundation, taught her to sail. For years, she has crewed for her father every Wednesday night, racing their Sea Sprite Hope out of the Bristol Yacht Club.

She’s currently captain of the Bay View sailing team, which also practices out of the BYC, and she spends her summers teaching sailing at the Herreshoff Marine Museum.

“I was always coming up with these random ideas when I was younger, and at one point I decided I wanted to make my wedding dress out of a white sail,” she said. “But that’s so far in the future.”

The prom, on the other hand, was right around the corner.

She told Peter Wisotzkey, sailing foundation program director and Bay View coach, what she had in mind.

“He was able to find a retired rainbow spinnaker in the basement of the club,” Emilia said.

photo by Lou Marino

The pattern on the spinnaker lent itself well to its new purpose, and the dress fea-

tures a fitted blue bodice with red, blue, orange and yellow stripes fanning from the waist.

Emilia, (who is also an accomplished ceramics artist) plans to attend URI in the fall and study ocean engineering. And yes, she will be joining their sailing team.

But, what shoes to wear with a dress made from a rainbow spinnaker?

“Rainbows, of course!” laughed Emilia, referencing the ubiquitous leather flip flops known for their durability and popular with sailors.

“I’m not going to spend a bunch on money on shoes that won’t go with the dress, that I’d end up kicking off anyway.”