The East End Classic Boat Society announced that Jill Jermyn of Stony Brook won the organization’s annual raffle boat drawing Saturday at the Hartjen Richardson Community Boat Shop.
Jermyn, 42, a Google software engineer, said she had been eagerly awaiting the event since buying her ticket at the Greenport Maritime Festival. She made the 63-mile trip to East Hampton despite her mother’s urging to skip the drive, she said.
Her name was called as the winner of a handcrafted Billy Mink skiff with an electric motor and trailer — a boat she first spotted in Greenport and recalled thinking, “Wow, it’s beautiful.”
Although she has little boating experience, Jermyn said she already knows how she’ll use the skiff — as a platform for birding and photography. An avid bird watcher, she frequents Fire Island and hopes the boat will allow her to reach creeks and marshes that are inaccessible on foot. Now, she said, she just has to decide where to launch.