Amid tumultuous times, a beloved Morgan 30 is a haven for a family of six
Issue 151: July/Aug 2023
Clear skies, 12- to 15-knot winds, and a following sea made for smooth sailing from our mooring ball in Northport Harbor, New York, toward our destination in Pirate’s Cove, off Port Jefferson. Although the weather made for an easy 25-mile trip, conditions aboard Focus, our family’s Morgan 30, were turbulent.
My older siblings, Claudia and Paul, were at it again, this time arguing over, what else, cigarettes. I tried to defuse the situation by moving closer to my big sister and whispering, “Paul will give you one later when Mom and Dad aren’t around.”
“Kenny,” she laughed. “We’re on a 20-foot sailboat in the middle of the ocean. When are Mom and Dad not going to be around?”
I didn’t bother to correct her geometry (the boat was 30 feet long) or her geography (we were in Long Island Sound), but I accomplished my goal. She calmed down, and the arguing stopped.
I was 10 years old and it was 1969 — the year of Woodstock, the Apollo 11 moonwalk, and the biggest protests of the Vietnam War. Raising children in those times couldn’t have been easy, but how impossible it must have been to deal with long-haired teenagers who talked back, smoked God knows what, and listened to rock ’n’ roll.
This would be the last sail for three years when the six of us — my parents, three siblings, and me — would be together. Soon, Claudia would move in with her boyfriend, and Paul would run away from home, leaving just my 12-year-old brother, Dave, and me living with my parents.
Our shrunken family continued to take most of our vacations on Focus. We cruised to the east end and anchored off Shelter Island or Sag Harbor. But the ports we liked best were on the other side of the Sound — the Connecticut River, Mystic, and Fishers Island. Sometimes it was just us; other times, we joined fellow Centerport Yacht Club boats.
My favorite destination was Hamburg Cove, a peaceful estuary off the Connecticut River. As soon as the anchor dropped, we put on bathing suits and cannonballed into the cool, clear water, splashing the grown-ups until they yelled at us and told us to get lost. We didn’t need prompting.
The Morgan 30 was an excellent choice for a young family on a budget. Charley Morgan, legendary sailboat racer and designer who passed away in January 2023, had a knack for creating privacy and comfort in a small space. Focus could sleep six and had ample storage. The galley had a deep ice chest and a gimbaled two-burner alcohol stove that allowed my mother to cook multicourse meals.
On weekends, the yacht club held races. While not the fastest boat in the fleet, Focus held her own. Dad took races seriously and admonished his deckhands to change canvas and tack quickly. After rigging a spinnaker, we often passed larger boats on downwind legs.
In the summer of 1972, Claudia was home from college, and Paul moved back in after his rebel streak had abated. One weekend, the six of us climbed on board Focus to sail the 15-mile trip to Oyster Bay. I was nervous about the first family overnighter in three years and fretted as we cast off the mooring.
Claudia sunbathed on the forward deck while Focus finessed the wind, and that night I slept under the stars with my siblings. It was a quiet night with a light breeze, and the next morning we were up early when my mother made coffee, scrambled eggs, and “boat toast.” We all squeezed around the dinette and the conversation flowed smoothly, effortlessly, like the Morgan 30 slicing through the bay on a clear, crisp morning. It was everything I had remembered and longed for.
Ken Van Camp has been sailing along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States since before he could walk. His sailboats have plied the waters of Long Island Sound, the Chesapeake Bay, Tampa Bay, and several lakes in Pennsylvania and north-central Florida. He is married with two children, and can be reached at https://vancamp.info
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