{"id":7377,"date":"2017-07-07T10:09:54","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T15:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=7377"},"modified":"2017-07-07T10:09:54","modified_gmt":"2017-07-07T15:09:54","slug":"pandoras-on-the-hard-but-it-could-be-a-lot-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=7377","title":{"rendered":"Pandora’s on the hard but it could be a lot worse."},"content":{"rendered":"

I always find time \u201con the hard\u201d to be tough in the post department.\u00a0 While there\u2019s an endless number of things to write about when I am aboard Pandora, somehow, well, it\u2019s not that easy when I am looking out the window at dirt without a drop of water in sight.<\/p>\n

I say that but today there\u2019s plenty of water to look at as it\u2019s raining steadily.\u00a0 That\u2019s good as the lawn and trees need water from time to time.<\/p>\n

I should also note that, as I write this, the power is out, something that never happens aboard Pandora, being \u201coff the grid\u201d and all.\u00a0 Where\u2019s battery power and a trusty inverter when you need one?<\/p>\n

And, speaking of being \u201con the hard\u201d, Pandora was hauled a few days ago and is in a nearby boat yard where she will be for the next few months while I focus on our \u201cdirt home\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, I do have to keep \u201cnautical\u201d so here\u2019s a shot of Pandora in the slings.\u00a0\"\"\"\"I had cleaned her bottom in Tortola before I left in mid May\u00a0 and I know that she didn\u2019t have a bit of nasty on her hull.\u00a0 However, after a month in Hampton it seems that she got a lot of slime growth.\u00a0 \"\"It\u2019s amazing how quickly it builds up.<\/p>\n

The running gear was covered with barnacles too. \u00a0 No wonder her speed under power was a bit down.\u00a0\"\"However, in spite of all that, we still went pretty well on our way north and kept up a good turn of speed.\u00a0\u00a0 However, I did notice that we fell short of the kind of performance I am used to from Pandora.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny that after all the long sea passages that I have made somehow the 350 mile from Hampton to CT, it just didn\u2019t seem worth hiring a diver to clean her bottom when my run home was a \u201cshort\u201d 350 mile run.\u00a0\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t too long ago when a trip from Norwalk to Maine, 250 miles seemed like a major ocean passage to me.\u00a0\u00a0 I guess times and perspectives change. \u00a0\u00a0One thing for sure, my runs, even the long ones, seem like a mere day sail to someone who has sailed around the world.\u00a0 I almost said \u201cacross the pond\u201d but that\u2019s only about twice as far as I go so even that seems to me that it might be attainable these days. \u00a0\u00a0Yes, it\u2019s all about perspective.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t lament that Pandora is on the hard and that this post is somehow going to awkwardly segue into a gardening post or perhaps a series of photos of our granddaughter Tori as I visited the Wooden Boat Show in Mystic last week and saw some remarkable boats.\u00a0 What follows is in no way intended to cover the amazing breadth of what was on display but here goes.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the best place to start is with a photo of a catboat and a Beetle Catboat<\/a> in particular.\u00a0 These lovely boats are still being built as they have for nearly 100 years.\u00a0\u00a0 The company, from New Bedford, once home to the largest whaling fleet in the world, was known for making whale boats, the sort known for giving \u201cNantucket Sleighrides<\/a>\u201d back in the days that ships roamed the world hunting whales.\u00a0 After oil was discovered in Oil Creek Pennsylvania in 1859 whale oil was no longer needed.\u00a0 Good for the whales as I don\u2019t think that they would have lasted much longer with all the relentless hunting of them for their oil.<\/p>\n

Anyway, as the market for whale boats dried up Beetle turned its\u2019 attention to the then infant, recreational boating market and started making lovely little catboats.<\/p>\n

The year was 1921\u00a0and they began making these iconic little 12′ yachts that would endure for a century.\u00a0 I say that as the 100th<\/sup> anniversary of these wonderful little boats is coming up in , you guessed it, \u00a02021. \u00a02021? \u00a0I can’t believe that I am writing about that year as bring right around the corner. \u00a0I can vividly recall a time when Orwell’s book, 1984 seemed like an impossibly long way off in the future. \u00a0Newly built wooden catboats and 2021? \u00a0Back in the 50’s everyone was thinking flying cars by now, not little wooden catboats. \u00a0 \u00a0Anyway, they were “contemporary” in 1921 and they still are.\"\"One of the decisions I made two boats and about 10 years ago is that I would not own a boat with any exterior varnish but I still think that there\u2019s nothing that compares to a well maintained beautiful wooden boat. \u00a0What a sweet transom and lines.\u00a0\"\"The attention to detail on this lovely sloop is something to behold.\"\"A great cockpit to enjoy a lazy summer afternoon sail. \"\"The detail is wonderful\u00a0on Mystic Seaport’s schooner Brilliant too.\u00a0\u00a0From the tip of her bowsprit….\"\"To the lovely varnished cabin. \u00a0\"\"However, unless you have the coin to get someone to do the varnishing for you, you may find yourself spending much of the boating season getting everything just right. \u00a0 Brilliant<\/em> is wonderfully maintained by the shipwrights at Mystic Seaport. \u00a0\"\"(copyright Mystic Seaport, for sure)<\/p>\n

She was a gift to the seaport from Briggs Cunningham<\/a>, \u00a0an important figure in the sports car racing in the 1950s. \u00a0Beyond the race car circuit, he also was a skipper in the America’s Cup in 1958 aboard Columbia <\/a>and is the inventor of the “cunningham<\/a>” used for trimming the luff of a mainsail. \u00a0He loved racing in many forms and spent time aboard\u00a0Brilliant<\/em> before donating\u00a0her to Mystic Seaport in 1953. \u00a0I understand that he also provided for her future upkeep which The Seaport has done wonderfully for the 65 years that she has sailed under the seaport flag.<\/p>\n

An interesting footnote is that my wife Brenda worked on Stewart McKinney’s<\/a> congressional campaign back during the Reagan years and Stewart was married to Lucy Cunningham, daughter of Briggs. \u00a0Stewart has the unfortunate distinction of being the first member of the US Congress to die of AIDS but that’s a\u00a0story for another day.<\/p>\n

So, back to boats. \u00a0When we were in Antigua last winter I saw magnificent yachts with guys swarming all over them for weeks at a time doing nothing but varnishing and painting, all in preparation for a week of racing in the classic yacht regatta<\/a>.\u00a0 We weren\u2019t there for the races this year but I hope to put it on my calendar for April 2018.\u00a0 Stay tuned.<\/p>\n

I say, varnish away. \u00a0This beautiful Elco just wouldn\u2019t be the same in carbon fiber so bring out those brushes.\"\"If I had to downsize to a lake boat, varnish or not, I’d be tempted by something like this.\"\"She sports a properly sized ensign\u00a0on her stern. A pet peeve of mine is yachts with wimpy flags. \"\"And speaking of \u201ccomposite\u201d construction, this Legnos 10-3 was built back in the 80s and has graced the Mystic waterfront for much of the time since then.\u00a0\u00a0 \"\"Peter Legnos, the designer and builder behind this boat built our first boat, a diminutive 20\u2019 catboat a Mystic 20 and the first boat that Brenda and I owned, back in the late 70s.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have a photo of TAO handy so a shot of a painting of her done by my friend Christopher Blossom will have to suffice.\u00a0 \"\"“Bob, Bob, you’re recycling pictures again. \u00a0We have seen this photo in at least two posts already!” \u00a0Glad to know you are paying attention. \u00a0I think that it’s a nice painting. \u00a0She was a wonderful boat but not very well suited for ocean sailing.<\/p>\n

Brenda says that when we sell Pandora<\/em> \u00a0we will get something to putt-putt around on with a glass of wine in hand. \u00a0 This would be a good one, wicker chairs and all.
\n\"\"Or, perhaps white if natural color wicker doesn’t seem right.\u00a0\"\"Another favorite of mine is the converted sardine carrier Grayling<\/a>. \u00a0\"\"There’s no doubt that a beautifully varnished coach roof makes her particularly fetching.\u00a0\"\"And speaking of cocktail cruises, this launch would be perfect. \u00a0Very classy with a straw hat on a summer evening. \u00a0Wicker here too.
\n\"\"However, all “yachtsmen” were not gentle souls so enter a real Viking Ship, the\u00a0Draken Harald H\u00e5rfagre. \u00a0<\/em>Now doesn’t that just roll off the tongue? \u00a0 These guys, and I expect that most of them were guys. \u00a0Well, at least the “at sea” ones, were tough. \u00a0No “lily assed” creature comforts for them!\"\"I expect that the wouldn’t have been caught dead in this deck “enclosure”. \u00a0 No way! They’d be out in the elements every time and all the time. \u00a0\u00a0\"\"Seeing this prow come at you out of the fog would give pause for thought.\u00a0\"\"This figurehead says “watch out!”. \u00a0\"\"I guess that this radar isn’t “vintage” but handy.\u00a0\"\"She’s a “real” boat for “real” men. \u00a0This is shot is from the ship’s\u00a0website<\/a>. Impressive with their apt “blood red” sail.\u00a0\"\"This video is if her sailing along in decidedly non tropical conditions which are, of course, what\u00a0would have been preferred any self respecting Viking. \u00a0 All I can say is Arrrggg…. \u00a0Which I think is pirate speak for “we are having an awesome sail”.<\/p>\n

Even though they have a decidedly un-viking dodger on board, Brenda would NOT have approved and it seems clear that some of the crew look like they\u00a0felt about the same way. \u00a0“Lars… Are we there yet, I am frigging freezing”. \u00a0“Oh, just shut up or I’ll gore you with my horned helmet”