Price retires as Darien harbormaster

Bob Price didn't exactly sail off into the sunset on Wednesday, but he did leave his post as harbormaster for the last time, which will give him plenty of time to enjoy sunset sails in the near future.

And while he handed off the post he's held for the last 21 years to fellow Darienite Tom Bell this week, he doesn't classify the end of his career as harbormaster as "retiring."

"I still have two small businesses, which I'm going to keep going with," he said as he sat with his hands folded on a picnic table, inside the gazebo at Pear Tree Point Beach on Tuesday afternoon. His main goal in passing on the reins was not to enter into a lifetime of relaxation, but to ensure the harbors continue to be taken care of as best as possible.

"I didn't want to suddenly become incapacitated," he said. "I wanted to be able to provide a smooth transition from me to the next harbormaster."

Bell said the two have been working together to make sure that happens.

"I know how he's organized the harbor," Bell said. "He's spent a lot of time with me to make it a smooth transition, which is greatly appreciate. And the wealth of knowledge that is in his head will be hard to put on a piece of paper, although he's tried. He said he will always be available to me for questions that arise, which is nice to know."

In fact, when Price is not working at his businesses in Port Chester and Greenwich, he'll probably be hanging around the beaches and bays in town.

"I'll have more time for my personal boat now that I'll be spending less time going house to house," he said.

But he'll miss all the interactions with "the very interesting people" he runs into on almost a daily basis, he said.

In the beginning, he took the job for three reasons: because it needed to be done; because he likes meeting new people; and because he loves the water.

"The water, it gets into your heart," he said. "I love the sea."

He's lived in Darien on and off since his family moved to town in 1937, just a year before the hurricane that ravaged the town and its beaches. He still remembers ice skating on the Sound with his friends in the winter, and laughs as he recalls attempting to jump the gap of chilly water between the iced-over portions of water and the land -- sometimes unsuccessfully. He's loved the water his whole life, he said.

"There's something about the sea. I think it's born in you," he said. His daughter was born with the same love of water as he was, he said. She now lives in upstate New York with her family; his son lives in Wilton. Price and his wife of 47 years also have six grandsons, and their first granddaughter is on the way.

He looks forward to spending some of his newfound spare time with the whole clan at the beach in the near future, he said.

"I'll still see the club people," he said. "They're great. We all work together for the good of each other. If you get a speeder, they're very quickly spotted and reported."

It's an old-school, community vibe at the beaches. And while the neighborly pastime of watching out for each other won't disappear with Bell at the helm, there will be a few changes in the way things are run, Bell said.

"I'm a different type of organization person than Bob is, so everything will be automated," Bell said. "I hope to get a website or enhance the website so people can find out information about it."

Like Price, Bell volunteered because he enjoys helping out in the community, and spending time on the water with his wife and kids.

"I don't know a lot about Bob," Bell said. "Just that he's a true gentleman. Everyone you talk to about him, even those who disagree with him, say he's just the nicest man."

And you can find him at the water.