No posts until Tue 19, 07

Hello all,
I'm going to be away for a few days and am having computer problems so there will not be any posts until Tues. Feb 19. Please come back then and we will get at it again. Below is a article about my Book Of Mooncursers and other Spun Yarns.
"Mooncursers" takes place near "Baltimore Maryland," during the early part of WWII. A story of two boys, each battling his own devils. Both are strengthened through adventure and the overcoming of self imposed guilt. They decipher a cryptic note and right an old wrong. All this in order to give new meaning to the life of an elderly lady living in an old Baltimore slum and to return to her what is rightfully hers. This is a story of boys who find young manhood and lifelong confidence through adversity, adventure and intrigue. Between these covers are other short stories for old boys and young men. Some will delight, drawing a chuckle and others to inspire thought. A few will leave an introspective question or two to ponder. One story is pure piffle. See if you recognize which one. Doug

Sailboats Fair and Fine #33 : Read oldest posts first

Nov. 3 Monday

We took in our lines and backed away from the dock At 6:55 AM. There is almost no wind and just a hint of fog. We were both happy to be on our way again. A week of messing around in one place has begun to be a long time. Funny thing how big a hurry I was in considering we didn't have to be any place at any particular time. I guess when your traveling you want to travel. The sky was overcast with a smooth layer of clouds that look e like they had been spray painted up there. One thing for sure with a sky like that I was sure there would be no wind for at least a day. We enjoyed the big houses along the water way and motored along at ease.

Being close to the ocean the trees had that look. They all leaned inland with fewer leaves on the Ocean side. I guess the salty wind does that. Kind of gives the trees the look of a strong wind blowing.

We motored along with sandunes between us and the ocean. Now and then we would get a good look at the Atlantic. There must have been a storm off shore someplace because even though there wasn't any wind the seas were running big. The ocean was beautiful. The clouds reflected their gray color in the ocean. It light up as though it were silver with white breakers standing out on it's silver gray surface.

We were running along enjoying the scenery when we heard a bank and a for sail halyard whistled through the air and hit the deck with a thud.

I walked forward cursing the stupidity that let me put that halyard up there without wiring the shackle in place. When I got there and looked up there was the broken shackle hanging in place with the safety wire still in place.

We went on thinking to find a marina where i could get someone to run me up the mast. We pulled into one at Whiskey Creek a nice little marina with floating dock. This was something new to us.

I talked to the fellow at the gas dock who told me he would not be able to run me up there. He said If I let you fall we'll have to buy the marina back from you. He told me he'd come down and help me at lunch time, and he did..

I at one time would climb a mast with out giving it a second though but I shinnied up. This kid walked up the mast like a Haitian walking up a coconut palm. He grabbed the mast brought his feet up and laid back and walked. Swinging one arm out and around to grab the mast then the other. Amazing!.

The marina had a sign up that said in the event of a hurricane all boats must move as the docks will be taken up. Kind of a strange concept for a guy from a marina on pilings to take in.

Georgene and I never had spent much time in marinas a lot of things about marinas were new to us.

In our earlier years of sailing we would have everything packed when we got home on Friday night and head for the boat eighty miles away. As soon as we got there we took off sailing found us a place to anchor snf spent the night. We'd sail all day Saturday and maybe all night then back to the dock and pack up the car after dark and get home at Midnight

If it hadn't been for hauling and painting we most likely would not have gotten to meet any of the marina tenants. Probably some thought us snobbish but it wasn't so we just wanted to sail. I'll have to admit there was some motivation to get away from people.

Sailboats Fair and Fine # 32 : read oldest posts first

Oct.31 Halloween!

Were still in Swansboro. Doug has the engine all apart in the cockpit and we've been waiting and we've been waiting on parts all week. A place in Moorehead city is supposed to bring them this morning.

Last Friday Doug rigged a boom and a pully and lifted the engine up into the cockpit while we were still at anchorage. Saturday he took the thing apart to make sure what was wrong and what was needed to fix it. We explored a little in the afternoon and Sunday. Sunday. We found the Grocery store a couple miles away and stocked up a little. Monday morning we sailed into the marina ( Casper's ) and tied up. Doug called Moorhead city to order parts and we've been waiting since then. We walked into town and enjoyed our stay but we are ready to get going now

Yesterday morning we saw another boat from Deltaville. Lynn and Smokey Slater on the “Saugeen Witch” pulled up to the dock across from us. They used to have a Ruarks Marina years ago when we had our first boat there. That's been close to twenty years. Hope we meet up with them again farther South.

The “Saugeen Witch” at one time was Tom Colvins boat. He designed and built her and I think as best I remember may have sailed her around the world. I think his first trip was in a schooner of his design and construction.

I had a good time at Casper's Marina they had a little limited machine shop there and I did a little work for them, did a little welding for myself. The place was a hangout for the retired crowd there in town and a place where tall tales abound. There was one fellow that spent his winters way up the rivers fishing from a shanty boat. One of the other men would run up there in a small cabin boat pick up his catch and carry him supples and in the spring tow hem back to Swansboro He had a spare bunk on board and from time to time some of those fellows would go up the river and spend a couple days away from their wives.

There was another fellow that lived across the street from the marina who made both muzzel loading and cartridge rifles though the later were illegal rifles. He was careful who he made them for. Mostly he made guns for family that his family had been making guns for from a time before the revolutionary war. Story was that the federal firearms people came after him and were so impressed with his guns the got a congressman to but through a special bill that was attached to something else that allowed him to get a license free of charge. He made several rifles for the agents in the years following.

He was looking for someone to take over in his place and offered to teach me with the expectation that I would teach his uninterested son if he ever wanted to learn. My interest at the time was going sailing though I regret not learning the gun making I've never regretted the sailing trip so there you go.

Sailboats Fair and Fine #31 : read oldest posts first

Here's a couple more boats anchored back at Beaufort. I'm not sure but that black hulled boat may be a "Bill Trip" design. The picture with the little blue hulled boat has a white boat over at the shore. That is the dingy dock there. Your dink needs to be strong enough to bang up against the pilings all day and have everyone climb over it.

Well here we are anchored just off Swansborrow. We anchored under sail and with no power and little wind we hardly pulled the anchor in at all. Last night was not a great night the changing tides had us dragging anchor several times in a crowded anchorage. We had sailed in with the tide running out against the wind so we were barely moving over the bottom so the anchor did not really pull in. I was concerned, but I was not the only one dragging anchor. The wind was up some and the boats ran up to windward then turned sideways and charged down river with the tide sometimes pulling out their anchors and sometimes jerking them around to set upwind again. Woftrap didn't sail on her anchor as some did but when the wind slacked the tide would push her to windward. With an increase in wind she would blow against the tide. The anchorage was a mess with every boat reacting different to the wind and way to close together. So they tried to run all over top each other most of the night.

I wanted to re anchor Wolftrap but it was the middle of the night and boats were every which way and I just couldn't see myself charging back into the anchorage under sail. Finally at day break some boats moved out and made some room. We hoisted sail and hauled in the Anchor and Georgene headed out to the channel with her. She jibed her around and headed back in at a good 4 knots. I dropped one hook and we run on dropping the second anchor snubbing them up and they didn't catch hold. We got the anchors up and headed out again and I dropped the Main and jib so we came in on foresail at about two and a half knots and went through the anchoring thing again and this time they took a good bite.

Fellas Let me tell you something, teach your wife how to handle the boat and let her do it, as much as she will. I have many times seen a one hundred and ten pound women trying to fend a boat off a dock or handle a couple of anchors and tackle with her husband cursing her the whole time. He looks a damn fool and she looks like she would like to throw his fat ass overboard. Let her gently push the throttle back and forth while you haul halyards and anchor rodes you both last longer at boating. Throw a wad of paper in the water and let her doc to it for practice.

Feeling pretty good about Wolftrap staying put this time we crawled back in the bunk and got some real sleep until about Ten A.M.

About noon after and rest I food I unbolted the engine which took about an hour.

Then I took the main sheet off which is double blocked on both ends. I attached the main sheet lower block to the engine. After that I hoisted the main boom up high making a gen pole out of it. I lifted the engine out with the four part main sheet. I less than two hours she was setting on a piece of plywood that at had stowed under a bunk for just some emergency like this one. In about two more hours the clutch was apart and I knew what was needed. We went into the Marina and talked with, Casper, the owner and the parts were ordered and would be there on Monday when the supplier would be coming to Swansboro from Moorehead city.

I rented a slip for a few days not wanting to be in a crowded anchorage without and engine with boats sliding all over the place.

You would be surprised how many people with really fine boats don't know how to anchor. Some drop the anchor and then don't pull it in they just leave it laying on top the bottom. About one A.M. they are dragging all over the anchorage screaming hollering and blowing horns.

If You have an engine it's an easy matter to pull up your anchor and move. If you don't your going to be up fending off fifty thousand pounds of boat that wants to run over top of you.

If you don't and you stay where you are you might as well be married the the guy because you are going to be all over top of each other.

About sundown with the breeze falling light I went in and tied a rope from the forward outside piling to the dock that we would be laying along side. The idea being that if we suddenly got a sail full of wind and came shooting in like a bullet we would either break the rope, pull out the piling or stop our boat. I had a line around an aft cleat and we sailed in under foresail alone. As we came to the end of the dock and dropped the sail. We eased into the slip at about a half knot. I went around the piling with my aft line and brought Wolftrap to a stop. Folks walk down to Casper's Dock about sundown so we had a pretty good audience to either be boat handlers or fools. They took our lines and we got a hand of applause.

An awful lot of the confidence of doing this is a result of Phil Bolsters sail laceing on the mast. It never hangs it always come down quickly and freely and I just can't sing it's praises enough. The other thing is the Top yard is just heavy enough to drop the sail quickly. That is of course if you keep the gaff level while it drops. Let the peak or the throat get ahead and it's like having breaks on it.

Sailboats Fair and Fine # 30 : read oldest posts first

The bottom Picture is a U.S. Army tug aground in about seven feet of water. That thing must be deep draft. Sadly, She's the only south bound boat we passed today.The picture above it is the anchorage at Swansboro and out in front of Caspers Marina. "Nice people."

Oct.23

We left early, about 6:30,and put in a very long day. We dropped Anchor about 25miles down the waterway. It started out to be a very nice day and the weather was really nice. As we were going through the swing bridge at Moorehead city, another boat passed us-- “Gimbi” from Biloxi. The captain called to us, “ Lets go back to Deltaville.”We smiled and waved to each other. Doug and I didn't remember the boat but evidently they had been in Deltaville when we were there. Maybe we'll see them again as we get farther south. The way it looks that's going to be a while. All day long, boats have been passing us going south on the ICW. We thought it was just because the wind was against us but this evening we found out the clutch has been slipping all day and has finally burned up. We turned around and with the wind with us we sailed back about 3 miles and anchored in front of a marina in Swansboro, N.C.

The next few days will be big ones. For a little background on the coming events let me say that as a small kid I had some experience with clutches. My father who was a builder of all manner of things built a garden tractor. For an engine he used a Model T ford engine with it's transmition. I hung over his shoulder and watched handing him tools, but most generally getting in his way. I learned a lesson when I asked a question and he begun to answer. It always took him a lot of time to think over the question and come up with a good answer for a small boy. I asked another question on another subject before he could answer and he lost his patience and said, "Boy when you ask a question If you want to know the answer keep your mouth shut so it can be answered. If you done really want to know don't ask. Now do you want to know or not." "Yes," I replied, and then got my answer.

What this all boils down to is this. The little little Yanmar engine has a small version of the model T Ford clutch on it. So I already knew a lot about rebuilding it right from the start.

While I'm at it, it may be helpful to some to know that the big hydrolic clutches on marine engines are the same clutch with a hydrolic pump to generate the pressure to hold the plates tight together to transmit power to the propeller shaft. Don't let those high techy types tell you you need to go to college to fix one. Seventy five years ago every man in America could take one apart and fix it.

Sailboats Fair and Fine# 29: read oldest posts First

Boats anchored off Beaufort N.C. and the next one is a wild pony on the beach.

Georgene's log again today and a few more then I'll get back to describing some things that went on.

Monday, Oct,30

We started off early again this morning. Doug really likes to get going early. I have a little bit harder time getting up. It's been so cold the last few mornings. I could have easily stayed under the covers until noon. We got away before 7AM and it was almost 6pm when we anchored this evening. Belhaven was at mile135 and we crossed mile 200 this evening and anchored at Beaufort N.C. We motored most of the time but had a few nice quiet sailing hours down the Neuse River. Woftrap was anchored just across the channel from the board walk. Every one coming south on the ICW must stop at Beaufort. ( pronounced “Boford as aposed to Beaufort S.C.)” There are dozens of boats anchored in a space 100 yds. X ½ mile long. We row the dingy across the channel-about 100 yds. and there are docks all up and down the boardwalk and shore with dozens more boats tied up.

We stayed at Beaufort Tues. and Wed. Tuesday we walked all over the place and mostly looked. We found Hardees and had some ice cream. We also found a book store and I got some more paper backs for our bookshelf.

Wednesday we did our laundry and after bringing it back to the boat and having lunch, we visited the muse um. It was very nice. Doug especially likes to see all those old boats and enjoyed all the old pictures. We stopped at a very nice restaurant called Mikes and had had coffee and apple pie, then came back to the boat. I've been resting and writing while Doug's gone to fill water jugs at the dock and rowed the dingy to the little beach behind us to go walking. I guess it's a little island and their are ponies all over it. I saw some of them down on the beach this morning. It's still awfully cold at night and we are anxious to get farther south.