Schooners. I grew up on the shores of a harbor whose waters and skyline were dominated by schooners. Big schooners.
My first homemade model boat, balsa wood, was schooner rigged. 26 different sails cut out of old bedsheet with kite string for rigging.
Around the Bay were a feast of large schooners: Vanderbilt's PIONEER, Te VEGA, PURITAN, the green KELPIE, the black DOUBLE EAGLE and SEA DRIFT, MARTHA, QUEEN MAB, BARLOVENTO, NORDLYS, RAMONA, and DAUNTLESS. At the head of the north channel, when she wasn't aground, was the 161' GOODWILL with her candy-cane striped spinnaker poles.
Nearby, her rigging festooned in baggy wrinkle, was the 98' MORNING STAR, which my father crewed in the '49 TransPac as weatherman. They set a new course record, pioneered the Reverse "S" course, and won the Barn Door Trophy that year. As a 4 year old, I couldn't help but be impressed.
Moored just off Bayshores was the red pirate ship SWIFT of IPSWICH. My dinghy mast got tangled in her bowsprit one afternoon. Her owner, the actor James Cagney, appeared from below and, smiling, worked me free. http://www.lamitopsail.org/mylink.php?id=5759
The schooners are mostly gone now. But just the other day we followed MARTHA from Friday Harbor to Spencer Spit. She looked lovely. Schooners look that way.
I have a great childhood memory of sailing our family's 21' wooden sloop up to Glen Cove Marina for a USCG Auxiliary rendezvous. Glen Cove Marina (actually in Elliot Cove) is surrounded by houses now - back then it was out in the sticks. The large house containing the marina offices was formerly the Carquinez Strait Lighthouse and was moved there in 1955. The marina's obligatory big dog was in lazy residence when we visited. It was a postcard scene.
But regarding schooners, the L. Francis Herreshoff BRIGADOON OF BOOTHBAY was berthed at Glen Cove Marina - and a grand sight she was. She was black then - Terry Claus, who formerly owned the Alden schooner SEA RUNNER, bought BRIGADOON in 1976, restored her and painted her white, and she still sails the Bay:
Unstepping masts has always been a challenging part of my life. As a kid, I was used to regularly unstepping a 32' 40 pound Star mast doublehanded, by lifting it up and carefully walking backwards on the deck.
The purpose of this exercise was to plane off a little more spruce from the leading edge. Not only to get better bend characteristics, but to lighten the rig. 3x World's Champ, Lowell North's plane was the sharpest, and he shaved his Star mast down to an aerodynamic and svelte 28 pounds. Lowell once unstepped his mast during a race to retrieve a broken main halyard. He ran three sets of running backstays to support his noodle; we only needed one pair.
I got a call from my friend Gary here in Anacortes the other day. Would I help transporting a little firewood? The firewood in this case was a 120', 44" diameter, white fir that had been cut down, eight miles down the road. This sounded challenging. Not a Star mast. Gary is not known for turning down an offer of free firewood.
Our fir "mast" took two days to move. The fir was chain sawn into about 120 "rounds." We split the rounds into manageable halves and quarters. Each round of wet wood weighed about 100 pounds. I reckon our "mast" weighed in at about six tons. With wedges, sledge hammers, a chain saw and dolly, we loaded the wood into a rented trailer behind my SUV. Then unloaded it at Gary's house.
Good exercise. But I think I prefer unstepping a Star mast.
Tomorrow, WILDFLOWER leaves Anacortes towards Port Townsend, 30 miles south, across the Straits of Juan de Fuca.
We will again be an entrant in Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, a fun assemblage of boats and friends, old and new.
I dedicate our crossing to the memory of Dick Newick, who died Wednesday. Dick's pioneer multihull designs were legendary, and he combined form and function like no other. When you look at a Newick multi, you can't help thinking: "that's a really beautiful boat."
Captain Skip is looking quite tanned and healthy after a summer of wonderful travel tales (and a few adversarial ones). Hope you get to Pt. Townsend on a good wind, and that Wildflower is a big hit.
We mortals, in the multi hull world, do morn the passing of a great mind. I was part of the Jim Brown gang, but we all respected Newick's ideas, courage,and perseverance to pursue those ideas to completion. I hope that his genius, and spirit will find a positive mortal soul to inhabit.
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Greetings from PT Wooden Boat Fest. A fun gang. WF is berthed next to 10 Thunderbirds, celebrating their 50th anniversary.
So far the drippy weather has thinned the crowds, but not the enthusiasm. Sunnier forecast. WF is only sailing multihull here. Directly astern are my Capitola next door neighbors, Jeff and Collen, with their beautiful Herreshoff 12.5 SPARKLE.
With the spit, polish, and enthusiasm of the Wooden Boat Festival temporarily left behind, I went in search of John Steinbeck's WESTERN FLYER.
I found her, at the far end of town, in the back of the boatyard. I felt badly, seeing her muddy and neglected. Boats have souls. WESTERN FLYER still has hers, and I honored that. If you haven't read LOG FROM THE SEA OF CORTEZ, by John Steinbeck, I commend it.
cat whisperer
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