VIPs: 



FRIENDLY FISHING 

 COMPETITION 



by Ann Green 

 Photographs by Michael Halminski 



Along a crowded Nags Head Fishing Pier, Sylvia Baldwin 

 runs her fingers up and down the locks on her rod'n'reel. 



"I am not used to fishing like this," says Baldwin, who lost 

 her sight more than five years ago when she was assaulted. 



To learn to fish again, Baldwin is getting assistance from Ida 

 McGill, a Scotland and Richmond County social worker for the 

 blind. 



"I will do it for you one more time," says McGill, while 

 throwing out the line into the ocean and reeling it in. 



Then McGill baits the line with a bloodworm, shows 

 Baldwin where the handle is and hands over the rod'n'reel. 

 As mossy green waves break onto the shore, Baldwin tosses the 

 line into the ocean that is choppy enough to attract surfers in 

 wetsuits. 



