Issue 2 : Sept/Oct 1998
It was Thursday night again, and lightning was cracking all along the shore of the lake — again. The problem with sailboat races is they get scheduled well in advance. Crews were standing around the boats waiting to see what would happen … trying to decide. Some just wanted to race, others had to race. They had too much at stake in the series. All of us knew the judges couldn’t be counted on to call a race just because they could see lightning on the far shore. We’d have to wait and see. We might have to race.
Chuck came down to the dock with his crew and climbed into his boat. While he was mounting the tiny two-horsepower engine to the transom bracket, one of the point leaders in the series asked, “Don’t you want to think this over Chuck?”
“Nope,” came the reply, as he tightened the clamp and opened the fuel vent.
Chuck didn’t have a lot invested in the series and, although he was a good sailor, he probably didn’t expect to win the race. He rarely won; it was a tough fleet. He didn’t need to race, and he didn’t need to win.
He wasn’t stupid either. He understood about boats and lightning. The engine started on the first pull, and his crew cast off. As he backed out of the slip, I imagined that he had spent the day as usual, with his cancer patients.
The danger of a lighting storm is a relative thing. The odds are not all that bad really … not when compared with the odds Chuck worked against every day. Chuck needed to go sailing that night. He needed the restoration that he knew he could find on that lake in that boat. It would be nicer without the lightning, but just now he needed to go sailing.
I don’t recommend going out in lightning storms, although, if you sail long enough you will certainly get caught out there. It is a thing you should try very hard to avoid. The point is that sailing is different to each of us. And yet, sailing is, in all these different guises, a restoration for each of us.
This issue of Good Old Boat offers a lot of long-distance cruising thoughts. The Valiant is a salty open ocean cruiser. The birth of this boat is a great story well told. The Hauperts have made lifestyle choices that have freed them to have wonderful long distance cruising experiences. The Pardeys are icons among cruisers.
By way of contrast, our first issue featured Larry and Jan DeMers, who have not yet sailed their very seaworthy Cape Dory 30 very far from home. We don’t know if they will. We forgot to ask.
It is not really important. Good Old Boat magazine is about sailing cruisers and their crews. Some good old boats are coastal cruisers and some are better used to cross between continents. We list proud vessels in our pages that are shorter than 20 feet, and some that could easily carry them on deck. This variety reflects the needs and inclinations of sailors, all of whom are important. For most sailors, sailing is a weekend activity with an annual vacation thrown in. We will not forget that.
There is, however, a common thread that runs through our pastime. Sailing is a process of restoration. Sometimes the boat is restored, sometimes just maintained.
Done properly, the crews are also restored. As sailors, we come to know that, and so, sometimes landsmen will see a faraway look in our eyes. It means that just now we need to go sailing.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
