Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Words”
I may have been fortunate in my employment as a sailor on vessels sans electronics, where I had to sail day and night and in all types of visibility. Most recreational sailors can be more selective about when they sail and choose fair days. My sail-training grounds were the coast of Maine, a place where the fog can roll in so …
I became aware of my conviction in holding traditional navigational skills as a highly revered craft when I purchased a large offshore chart that needed to be folded in order to fit on Daphne’s small table. With each crease I laid in the chart, with each pleat I tucked into its edges I cringed. Silently, I made a promise to …
Dear Ms. Kate Lardy, Recently a friend gave me an April 2010 copy of Dockwalk, thinking I might be interested as my career and passion is with the sea. After perusing one issue, I was extremely disappointed by the representation of women captains among its pages. Especially page 21-24, the “Dockshots” and photos of crew attending the Miami Boat Show. With only two exceptions, all the captains, …
It was late at night while I was passing the time to hurry the rising sun that I started tying and counting all the knots that I know how to tie. I began categorizing them according to their uses. I tied adjustable knots, knots good for lines under tension, simple knots, decorative knots, knots for tensioning lines, knots I use …
Gretta stopped in The Sail Loft for a visit. Her father builds wooden boats in the shop below. Barefoot, with long blond hair, little Gretta decided that on this day she would learn to sew a canvas bucket while her brother cut wooden planks for the sailboats downstairs. “Its like a ‘Girl Saw’,” she said to Sarah. “All the boys …
“To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest,” explains Sterling Hayden in his book “Wanderer.” And a big Thank You to John for reminding me of Hayden’s words and his book at a time when I need to be reminded. My journey was most certainly built on a rock solid …
How many sailors does it take to change a light bulb? Two. One to unscrew the bulb and replace it with a new one, and another to hoist the first sailor up the mast. Its maintenance day about Daphne and there are a few important projects to do before I get underway again. I tied a bowline on the halyard, …
I recently happened upon a sailing magazine while taking pause during a downpour and killing time in a boating store. The magazine’s focus was small sailboats and pocket cruisers. “Look at this,” I said to Ben, my partner and fellow pocket cruiser enthusiast, handing him a copy. We loved the magazine! Finally, a publication that spoke directly to our interests and to captains of vessels like ours–small enough to still know that Poseidon will test the heart as he will, and utilitarian enough to still require baths be taken overboard! These are the simple sacrifices in safety and comfort traded for closer quarter with Mother Nature.