Let's back up to the 1950s, yep, that far back and a little farther. On both sides of my family, boats have been a part of our lives for many generations. My dad's family-tree goes back to John Alden and Priscilla Mullins who came over on the Mayflower.
Later, the bulk of my ancestors left Rhode Island and the surrounding area (apparently due to religious persecution as they were Baptists) and came to Charleston, SC. Geography being what it is, apparently many generations of my family enjoyed messing about in small boats all along that coast. My grandfather was born in 1906 and had a sailboat called Racocoa. In the 1950s and early 60s he sailed with my dad when he was a young man. My Dad later bought his own 40'+ boat, the Darby and had (mis-)adventures aplenty aboard as he cruised the Atlantic seaboard and Florida. He went through many small boats over the years (and some he passed on to me).
I was always a lover of the sea. One of my early child-memories was my uncle and a red Styrofoam sailboat at Folly Beach, South Carolina. It was a family gathering on 4th of July (late 1970s) at the beach house (that house was later wiped out by a hurricane) and my uncle was determined to punch through the heavy surf and go for a sail. All the grown-ups were skeptical and some even derided him until at last he turned back and said with a serious face, "that's what they told Columbus!". Classic!
My first boat building effort (age 16) was a 6x6 pallet with 2 liter plastic bottles. The idea was for me and my buddy to sail down the river near my house to the Gulf of Mexico. We just could never get it balanced enough! Time passed and alas, I had to work and do other things besides dream. I picked up a solid foundation of construction and engineering skills working with my Dad and others. Then came the US army where I jumped out of aircraft and blew things up for a living but also learned field and heavy construction skills. At 21, my friend and I built an 8' plywood open dory. The mast was a steel fence post and the first sail was a wool army blanket. Folks didn't even think it could float, let alone sail, but somehow it did. I so wish I had a picture of that boat. I flipped her once, and after several years and many sails I lost her against some rocks and had to abandon her. My first formal sailing lessons came on the English Chanel in strong Devon winds (my mom was a British citizen) but I can't say my instructor was much impressed with my crazy sailing. I would end up owning several more small vessels over the years (and taking some trips on bigger ones, including an active US Army LCM and later a US Navy missile frigate) but nothing quite compares to that first boat built with my own hands.
I own and take care of a few now, an 8' pram I gave to my daughter (the Runt), Atlantica, a pitiful 12' open cat boat that now has a cracked bow and of course my newest, the Darfin. I enjoy working and experimenting on them almost as much as I do passage making and gunk-holing and that is really the point of my blog...sailing and re-inventing small boats!
More to come!
