I’ve always been afraid to fail. And now I’m afraid to sail.
I’m afraid to sail while I’m old and forget some detail of rigging or the launch sequence or reefing.
Afraid to capsize deaf and unreachable in the emergency.
Afraid I can’t insert a catheter in rough seas.
Afraid the next heart attack will strike at night, anchored where there are no lights, beyond the reach of 911.
Afraid to reveal that I’m a timid and inexperienced sailor.
But I will sail anyway.
I went to see a urologist about irregular urination. I walked out 30 minutes later with a catheter hanging out of me and a urine collection bag strapped to my thigh. I wore this for 60 days of observation and testing. Then he laid out the options: Continue with the bag and visit the office every 30 days to swap the catheter. Or learn to self-catheterize every 2-4 hours or risk kidney damage. No good options. But I asked: Who would ever choose a permanent catheter over self-cath? His answer: Old men in nursing homes who can’t aim straight.
And what about aiming straight in a pitching, rolling small craft?
I sailed upriver from the town of Choptank. Just sail and find a place for lunch. Back at the landing, the lugsail yard would not come down. The halyard was twisted around the mast. How the hell did that happen? Oh yes. After lunch I was spinning around trying to push off from the marsh into the wind.
Before departing Mystic Seaport, I walked through the shipyard’s timber lot. Lots of white oak logs, osage orange slabs, and stickered piles of planks under interesting shelters. My 4-minute walkthrough video is here.
While at the WoodenBoat Show, I slept aboard the Joseph Conrad. This put me right at the waterfront evenings and early mornings when the crowds were gone. Some of my most memorable moments at Mystic this weekend were quietly watching the river and sky at dusk.
The accommodations onboard the Conrad were less than optimum. But I’m glad I did this at least once. Here’s a 90-second video tour. Contact the Mystic TSCA chapter to reserve your berth.
At the start of the WoodenBoat Show, TSCA vice president Bill Rutherford led me and a few other volunteers to the fundraising kickoff event for reconstruction of Wells Boat Hall. Till now, Mystic’s 560 small craft have been inaccessible to the general public. This project will put many of them on exhibit. I took more pics and video here. More about the Wells Boat Hall campaign is here.
I got to see the renowned New Haven oyster sharpie originally built by Lester Rowe in the 1880s. I had come to Mystic a year ago specifically to see this boat but could not find it. Mystic staff I spoke with didn’t know where it was. I found the sharpie by chance in the boat shop undergoing restoration – a nearly complete rebuild. My 2023 pics in the shop are here. This sharpie was put back on the water just before the 2024 WoodenBoat Show. My pics of the restored sharpie are here.
I also saw a replica oyster sharpie under sail on the Mystic River and took some pics and videos here. I regret that I didn’t see this boat up close somewhere else along the waterfront. It was probably the Lester Rowe, built in the 1970s and restored in 2019.
I drove S/V Kai five hours from Maryland to Mystic for the WoodenBoat Show 50th anniversary. I got into the seaport but my boat did not. I should have known. The WB show is not a small craft festival and messabout for amateur builders, like MASCF. It’s about big boats in the water and vendors on land. There is no small boat trailer ramp at the seaport. And the adjacent public ramp was closed for repairs. So S/V Kai spent the weekend parked at the nearby school along with a dozen empty boat trailers while I slept aboard the Joseph Conrad.
Just started taking shape. Finally. Barely.
The widest mold, #5 of 7. The shape of the shape finally starts taking shape.
Figure 4 in Chapelle’s Chesapeake Bay Crabbing Skiffs.