Saturday, July 27, 2013

Vintage Wooden Sailboats


The Skipper (my Dad) had one of these.  For the short explanation here, "vintage" meant it had no motor and leaked like a sieve.

Oddly, this was all to the good.  This boat was about as fast as a sailboat could be - (it was a Herreshoff racing sloop) - we beat the pants off everything we encountered.  

With no power, we sailed off - (and more terrifyingly - back on to) the mooring.  YOU try to stop a 2-ton racing sailboat on a dime that couldn't go slow even if Captain Peachfuzz was in charge.

Anyway, being what we euphemistically call a "vintage wooden sailboat" it leaked. A lot. The repair approximated my sister's college tuition. So she pumped. Every day. 50 pumps on a good day.

Today, batteries do this, but in those days, "hey-free kid on vacation, what's the big deal?" If my sister had tried out for crew at college, she would have blown those overly-beefy guys away.

I truly doubt there will ever be a sail boat as exciting and quick as this one.  I can say this with confidence since I never had to bail the damn thing.

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