Fight Club____for Sailors

[Surfesq]

That's a great story Todd. That is exactly the spirit I had hoped we could tap into with this thread. Remembering why we got into this passion called sailing.
It's funny how you remember those things from when you are younger and everything seemed so much bigger. When I was about 10, My Dad and I sailed from Herrington Harbor on the Chesapeake Bay to St. Michaels. It's only a one day sail. But, on my Dad's 25 foot Rhodes Meridian with an outboard and simply a chart we might as well have been crossing the Atlantic. What a feeling when we dropped anchor in St. Michaels. I think about that trip everytime I leave on a trip somewhere.

I noticed that there are a bunch of sailors on this site from New England. I had the good fortune of cruising New England a few years ago with my family for a summer. I wish the Bay produced a consistent 15 knots every afternoon like Newport seems to enjoy! What a place to sail. And, the boats.... it's like a floating museum.

[svsheela]

Anybody out there had a "Blaster" from Pete's Pub????? svsheela

[toddrtownsend]

Originally Posted by Surfesq

That's a great story Todd. That is exactly the spirit I had hoped we could tap into with this thread. Remembering why we got into this passion called sailing.

I remember an afternoon on a little lake in Michigan. My dad had been on an aircraft carrier and I had my Small Boat Sailing Merit Badge; so we thought we were qualified to buy/sail our own.

We were zipping back and forth across the lake in a good blow. At one point we saw a woman on a diving dock sunning herself. We ghosted up passed her and tacked between her and the shore! When Dad shouted 'Hard a'Lee' and lines started zipping through the jib tackle, I thought she was going to jump over us to the shore.

That same day we were running out of lake and I proposed that we jibe because we were heeled over a little and that would roll us over to the other rail on the turn. "You're not supposed to jibe!" declared Captain Dad. That time, "Hard a'Lee" was followed by a splash as we rolled right over the leeward rail and into the water!!! What a blast! Now that was getting wet!!

TrT

[Surfesq]

"Courage is fear holding on a minute longer."
General George S. Patton

[Surfesq]

This Dreadful Life
© Kevin Brown
Chorus: I have sailed across the ocean,
I have rolled upon the sea,
And this dreadful life I'm livin'
Is just the life for me.


When I was just a young man I left my family
Set out upon the ragin' sea to serve my country
But when the fight was over, I found I needed more,
So I signed aboard a packet ship bound for some distant shore

Went down to a local bar when we put in to shore,
Got drinkin' ale and whiskey, 'til I was good and poor,
When I awoke, beside me lay a girl I didn't know,
Just proves how drinkin' whiskey can lay a sailor low.

It's haulin' sail and line, me boys, and pushin' capstan 'round,
It's working pumps ans windlass, and prayin' for the sound,
The sound of the Bosun calling to take us all below,
To end the pain of every day a sailor's come to know.

When the mighty ocean tells me with a piece of broken deck,
That life on land's not half as bad as livin' through a wreck,
So I'll be going home, me boys, to the friends I used to know,
And to hoist a jar to every man who has the urge to roam.

[Sonofasonofasailor]

I love this thread!!! It has debate, comraderie, rum and gude stories!!

*edit* And now song, what more could one ask for? *edit*

I was out on a 50' tub (it was actually a yawl) in Boston Hahbah about 6 years ago (owner said C&C but I don't believe him - did C&C ever make a yawl?). Anyway this boot had been primarily a live aboard that didn't leave the dock much and when it did, it did a lot of motoring - mainly due to size and needed wind to get her going - she was a fat, heavy tub. We took her out in a 25kt blow and were flying along the outer hahbah having a blast. Capt. decides to reef due to most of the crew being the cheese n' cracker-cruiser type so we set in the first reef and within 10 minutes one of the points tears out, we set to taking out the reef points but all but one tears out before we can get it out and we're still moving along w/ a main sail that is almost in two. Capt. was not happy and we had to limp back to the marina on a beautiful sailing day w/ our main in two and eat cheese n' crackers for the rest of the afternoon while the steady 25 blew and blew - and I like cheese n' crackers just not when there is great sailing to be had.

The short time that we actually put that tub through her paces though was unforgettable. YEEEHAw!!!!!

[Surfesq]

There is nothing quite like watch $5000 tear away on an afternoon sail!

[km2x]

http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/fmtb.../ls/lsz145.txt

Take a look


KM2X

[Surfesq]

"Superior it's said never gives up it's dead..." Gordon Lightfoot.

[Surfesq]

All those men were there inside,
when she came in totally naked.
They had been drinking: they began to spit.
Newly come from the river, she knew nothing.
She was a mermaid who had lost her way.
The insults flowed down her gleaming flesh.
Obscenities drowned her golden breasts.
Not knowing tears, she did not weep tears.
Not knowing clothes, she did not have clothes.
They blackened her with burnt corks and cigarette stubs,
and rolled around laughing on the tavern floor.
She did not speak because she had no speech.
Her eyes were the colour of distant love,
her twin arms were made of white topaz.
Her lips moved, silent, in a coral light,
and suddenly she went out by that door.
Entering the river she was cleaned,
shining like a white stone in the rain,
and without looking back she swam again
swam towards emptiness, swam towards death.