Submitted by Kim_Haworth on Wed, 08/27/2008 - 21:41.
Why do we always have to learn the hard way? Especially with boating, when the hard way always equates to the expensive way.
This is the story Bob, a man who in over 20 years of boating had never, ever, gotten his anchor wet. Bob is an excellent boat handler. There are none who can compare when it comes to maneuvering in tight spots.
His background as a fisherman has taken him all over the world in every kind of boat. He has been in some mighty rough places, but none that require dropping the hook.
Submitted by Kim_Haworth on Mon, 08/18/2008 - 21:45.
It was coming toward dusk and my resident sea gull reminded me, in his subtle shrieking way, that he hadn’t yet been served his afternoon snack. I found a heel of bread in the refrigerator, broke it into quarters and took it out into the cockpit. My gull plopped down behind the boat, anticipating this meager repast and scrutinizing me with his beady, yellow eye.
Submitted by Kim_Haworth on Thu, 08/07/2008 - 11:53.
Vacation is my favorite part about working. We loaded up our boat, the Dancing Dragon, with all the goodies we could possibly think of, for a week away from civilization. After leaving our slip in South San Francisco, we had a wonderful sail across San Francisco, San Pablo, and Susuin Bays, winding our way under bridges into the fresh water of the San Joaquin River. This section of the Delta is both my summer home away from home and my personal concept of paradise. We drop the stern anchor into deep water, then nose up to the shore and tie a line around a tree.
Submitted by Kim_Haworth on Thu, 07/24/2008 - 12:40.
Our second boat was a Catalina 27 sloop that we called Yes, Dear. She had a dark blue hull and a Mercury outboard motor that didn’t quite fit into the outboard well, but we loved her and learned a lot about sailing and boating in general in the years that we owned her. She was large and heavy enough to take the rough summertime conditions on the bay, but not too big for novice sailors to handle. As a matter of fact, she was so easy to handle that I learned how to single hand.
Submitted by Kim_Haworth on Wed, 07/16/2008 - 22:47.
Friday afternoon, Sweetie and I both arrived home grouchy and cross. We barely had a kind word to say to each other. Thank goodness we had planned to slip the dock lines and head out to our favorite anchorage.
Submitted by Kim_Haworth on Tue, 07/08/2008 - 22:43.
It’s been a hot summer. Keeping cool has been easier on the trawler than it was on the sail boat, but a challenge none the less.
Submitted by Kim_Haworth on Sat, 06/14/2008 - 21:54.
This has been the windiest spring I can remember. In years past, we have a few days of these horrendously windy episodes, with wind topping 50 knots, scattered throughout the late spring, but we have never had a spring like this.
For the last two weeks the wind has picked up to 40 plus knots every afternoon, day after day. Usually, when the sun goes down, the wind takes a break. But not this year. All through the night our boat lurches and shudders against her dock lines as the hurricane rages on.
Submitted by Kim_Haworth on Wed, 06/04/2008 - 22:37.
We love to anchor out. Untying the dock lines, leaving the marina on Friday afternoon and dropping the hook is as good as it gets, at least for me. We spend the weekend working on boat projects, reading and napping, not necessarily in that order. When the kitty was younger, we anchored to keep him confined. He is a notorious escape artist so that when we visited other marinas and yacht clubs, we always had to spend at least one hour, and sometimes more, searching for the damn cat.
Submitted by Kim_Haworth on Fri, 05/16/2008 - 22:57.
I love to be the first to spot a friendly boat across the water. It’s not easy, mind you. To some people, all “little white sailboats” look alike. But with a keen eye and some attention to detail, you can spot a familiar boat from a long way off.
Take for example April Dancer, owned by our wonderful friends Lyn and Tessa Reynolds. We have cruised with these folks for many years and so I know the profile of April Dancer intimately. She is a Fairweather Mariner 39 with a slightly raised deck house with forward looking windows.
Submitted by Kim_Haworth on Mon, 05/05/2008 - 00:00.
Those of you who remember the column from Bay and Delta Yachtsman will recall my usual cast of characters included the Divine Esther, among others. This is the continuing saga of life on board, uncensored and unedited. I hope you enjoy!
|
