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Tim Leigh-Manuell wears many hats: father, ferry captain, earth science teacher and web designer. Now, he designs hats of his own for his Northern Nav clothing company.
Why would he take up fashion in his 40s? The answer: His desire to pass along decades worth of nautical knowledge.
“My brother-in-law and I, we purchased a boat, and I shortly realized that he didn’t know too much about boating,” Leigh-Manuell said. “And I realized that I actually had known about boating. So I started teaching him these little tricks and whatnot as I was teaching him how to take the boat out.
“We were having a couple of cocktails on our boat one night, and I kind of decided to put all my skillsets together, teaching, being a ferry captain, my web design skills,” he continued. “And I decided to put some of the sayings I was telling my brother-in-law on the back of a t-shirt.”
Among lessons Leigh-Manuell now offers on apparel are boat schematics with proper labels and sayings such as “brown, brown, run a ground” and “blue, blue, run right through,” collision regulations that grant boaters safe travels. There’s also mnemonic devices the part-time ferry captain learned in his teens from Sayville Ferry Service captains, including “red, right return.”
“It’s a navigational term that when you’re returning to port, the red buoys – or the red triangles in this case – should be on the right hand side,” he said. “It was the first saying that I ever learned, as I took my first ferry across the water.”
“Do-gooders already doing good things”
Seadog wisdom is just one part of Leigh-Manuell’s mission with Northern Nav. His “local legends” collection shouts out Long Island gems, such as Jones Beach; “Crazy Charlie,” a high-trafficked buoy in the Fire Island inlet; and the South Shore Clammers, for which he has a soft spot.
“I grew up on the South Shore, and a lot of my family back in the day were clammers and that’s where their livelihood came from,” he said. “So, I’m kind of paying a little homage to the South Shore clammers.”
The fashion designer threw his line beyond the island, offering designs like the “Southernmost Point” buoy, a well-known legend in Key West, and a Jersey Shore lifeguard boat and tower.
“My goal is to do local legends everywhere,” he said, after mentioning he now sells his merchandise in a pair of Jersey boutiques. “I’d love to go ‘Here’s a cool spot no one knows about,’ put it on a t-shirt and hopefully peak some interest for other people who like to travel and see new things.”
Anyone who purchases Northern Nav clothing will likely notice the “On the backs of” commitment on every tag.
“‘On the backs of’ was our pledge to donate a portion of our sales to do-gooders already doing great things,” Leigh-Manuell said. “Our first year, we picked Save the Great South Bay. This year, we’re going to do The Neighborhood House, for families grieving from people who died from overdoses.
“We’re kind of switching around, but there’s so many great organizations, we really want to try to help everyone,” he continued. “The hope is as we grow, obviously the portion that we donate grows and we can help more and more organizations looking for funding.”
Teaching the next generation
When he first took on this new project, Leigh-Manuell’s wife, Elizabeth Leigh-Manuell, and children, Kate and Charles Leigh-Manuell, came along for the ride.
“My wife and I sampled almost 50 different shirts to try to pick one,” he said. “She looks at every design and says ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ We call it ‘The mom test.’ Like if it’ll sell or not, she gives a thumbs up or thumbs down.
“My son is always helping me, packaging stuff. He’s running to the post office for me. My daughter her friends do modeling,” he continued. “It’s kind of a huge group effort.”
This year, more than ever, Leigh-Manuell’s roles as a father, ferry captain and teacher are merging. His daughter recently started working as a deckhand for the Sayville Ferry Service.
“Its a refreshing thing to see the next generation coming up, which includes my kid and her friends,” Leigh-Manuell said. “I always liked over the years training new deck hands into captain and then watching them go off into the world.”
