Until recently, John Bauer’s many years of sailing on Lake Champlain amounted to a pleasurable hobby. Then a friend invited him to Barcelona, Spain, to help repair sailboats for a relief flotilla headed for the Gaza Strip in March, and he realized he could use his boating expertise for a cause he ’d long cared about. “I thought, Well, this has been an important issue for me for many years,” said Bauer, 68. The Waterbury resident attended his first protest calling for a Palestinian state in 1976. In the decades since, conditions in Gaza have only worsened, especially after two years of Israel’s relentless bombing campaign that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. Israel has also slowed the movement of aid, including food and medical supplies, into the enclave. “When I had this opportunity to go do something constructive, I jumped at the chance,” Bauer said.  He flew to Spain in late January and spent two weeks living and working on a fleet of donated or secondhand sailboats with a crew of about 30 other activists from countries such as the United Kingdom, Spain, France and Ireland.  The effort was organized by the Global Sumud Flotilla, a group that launched several ships last summer in an attempt to break through the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces intercepted the boats, and Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and hundreds of others were detained.  The group is now working on a second, larger launch of 100 boats, which will carry aid supplies and volunteers, Bauer said.  “We fully expect it will be intercepted again,” he said. “But the world’s not paying attention. This is a way to bring consciousness to the issue.” He spent his time in Barcelona checking each boat’s windlass — the mechanism that lowers and raises the anchor. Other teams handled the rigging for the sails. “It was inspiring to see these folks doing so much,” Bauer said. “A lot of them will be there working until March 29 and then will get on a boat and go.” The original print version of this article was headlined “Sailing to Gaza” The post A Vermonter Repairs Sailboats in Spain for Gaza Aid Flotilla appeared first on Seven Days. ...read more read less