There are a several highlights of the Naples-Key West trip that I particularly remember. One is well before sunset. The winds were relatively light, and we decided to fly the spinnaker. It was the one that Dad was given on the occasion of his retirement by his boss. It had a large orange with leaves at the base of the orange in the top half panel of the sail. By the time of this trip, it was almost 15 years old, and had been repaired several times. We knew it was near the end of its life. With the light winds and no weather on the horizon, I thought we could chance flying it. It went up without incident, and flew beautifully. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. After an hour or so, the wind picked up, and before we could bring the sail down, it blew out, splitting from the top to the bottom. While it was a sad moment, there’s no better way for a sail to go—a story to tell. Two of the next two highlights involve food. The same afternoon, at least on the same trip, I remember Martin and John(?) Wood preparing gourmet meals in the galley. Were they lunch, then dinner? I can’t remember. I just remember how delightful it was. Did one of them cook a fish that was caught? The winds were the same moderate following winds as above with very gentle seas, absolutely perfect for galley work. Both Martin and John were very happily beavering away over a hot stove. I think there are pictures somewhere. The last highlight was arriving at the Key West reef about 3:00 AM in the morning, a couple hours ahead of schedule. It would have been too dangerous to try to cross the reef in the dark, even though it is well marked. So, for the first time for me, we hove to for a couple of hours waiting for dawn. The genny (jib) and main were set opposing one another with the helm hard over to prevent them from correcting themselves, and we sat quietly in about 12 knots of wind while all but the helmsman got some sleep. All the sounds and motions of the wind and sea seemed to diminish to nearly nothing while the boat and crew rested.
There are a several highlights of the Naples-Key West trip that I particularly remember. One is well before sunset. The winds were relatively light, and we decided to fly the spinnaker. It was the one that Dad was given on the occasion of his retirement by his boss. It had a large orange with leaves at the base of the orange in the top half panel of the sail. By the time of this trip, it was almost 15 years old, and had been repaired several times. We knew it was near the end of its life. With the light winds and no weather on the horizon, I thought we could chance flying it. It went up without incident, and flew beautifully. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. After an hour or so, the wind picked up, and before we could bring the sail down, it blew out, splitting from the top to the bottom. While it was a sad moment, there’s no better way for a sail to go—a story to tell.
ReplyDeleteTwo of the next two highlights involve food. The same afternoon, at least on the same trip, I remember Martin and John(?) Wood preparing gourmet meals in the galley. Were they lunch, then dinner? I can’t remember. I just remember how delightful it was. Did one of them cook a fish that was caught? The winds were the same moderate following winds as above with very gentle seas, absolutely perfect for galley work. Both Martin and John were very happily beavering away over a hot stove. I think there are pictures somewhere.
The last highlight was arriving at the Key West reef about 3:00 AM in the morning, a couple hours ahead of schedule. It would have been too dangerous to try to cross the reef in the dark, even though it is well marked. So, for the first time for me, we hove to for a couple of hours waiting for dawn. The genny (jib) and main were set opposing one another with the helm hard over to prevent them from correcting themselves, and we sat quietly in about 12 knots of wind while all but the helmsman got some sleep. All the sounds and motions of the wind and sea seemed to diminish to nearly nothing while the boat and crew rested.