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Evan Halyburton Suits

 

 

Danil and Kathleen on our first family charter - About 1979



After a Hard Sail

Some of the sailing crowd did a winter charter in 1993, Miami to the Bahamas and back.  I got talked into skippering one of the boats - huge ferro-cement tubs with 671 diesels and just enough rigging to qualify as
a sailboat.  "What can go wrong", they said, "These things are indestructible".


Alicetown, Bimini - February, 1983

What went wrong was our 2" stainless steel propeller shaft snapped the second morning out, just as we were approaching Gun Kay, the entrance to
the Bahama Banks.  We spent most of the 'vacation' tied up in Alicetown,
just down the street from the Compleat Angler, the bar where Hemmingway
used to hang out, while I tried to find a telephone that worked to contact the owner for instructions.

None of the rest of the crew seemed to care that their precious winter vacation had been spoiled.  After quite a few Heinekens, neither did I.

 
The Sailing Vessel "Passe Partout"
We had just crossed the finish line on the 1995 Marion Bermuda race on board my friend Paul's boat, "Passe Partout".  I was navigator (as usual), and the chart I'm holding is a plotting sheet I hung up in the cabin so the crew could track our progress along the route.  Finishing a race generates quite a bit of silliness anyway, so when someone pointed a camera at me, I mugged.
Sailing Offshore

Starting with the Sunflower, I worked my way up and eventually managed a couple of ocean races.  In 1983 we raced "Company Match" a 43' cat-ketch to Bermuda, and then delivered her back to her home berth on the Hudson River, in the shadow of the George Washington Bridge.  My watch partner was Tom Strong.Sailing offshore is quite different from day trips, and I don't think he was quite prepared for the reality shift.  In any case, he was heartily glad to see the Statue of Liberty, a couple miles ahead.  Note the jury-rigged forestay.  Halfway back we discovered that the main mast step had broken loose and was patiently gouging a hole through the hull, about a foot below the water line.  We braced it as best we could, but had to carry the main double reefed, even in gentle conditions.  This, and similar points of interest, might explain why Tom was sosleep deprived when we reached New York.

 
Changing the Watch

The morning watch change is often a study in contrasts.  Even at mid-summer, the pre-dawn hours can bring bone chilling cold.  It's not unusual for night watches to wear watch caps, sweaters, boots, and gloves, and still wind up shivering.  Meanwhile, the relief watch get out of their nice, cozy bunks, don T-shirts and shorts, and come up to start slapping on suntan oil.  Here Tom, about to retire after a three hour trick, recounts the morning's events to Dick Sears,

Note the life harness Tom wears over his rain suit.  In those days, use of a life harness was mandatory at night.  Since then, we have expanded the coverage to 24x7, regardless of weather, regardless of sea conditions.  We never lost anyone, but there were enough close calls to remind us that (1) the trip is only over once you're at home, asleep in your own bed, and (2) Mother Nature really doesn't care much whether you make it or not.

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