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Not a Schooner, a Yawl, Y’all

Spartina in the slip

 

Steve warned me about the wine festival going on next door.

Leaving the mountains before daylight (I am sooo not a morning person), then driving east a couple of hours with nothing but a pot of coffee for breakfast, then headlong into the blinding rising sun, only to arrive in a city already unnavigable on any day, but now with barricaded streets (“Now With Even More Unnavigabilty!”), well dang. Every street within four blocks of Spartina was garrisoned by petulant orange cones blockading the precious oenophiles, barring passage. Tired of circling the block, I bounced over a concrete median into a parking garage, waving at the not overly amused patrolman. He was there for the overtime – getting paid to block the road, not write tickets – and we both knew that.

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MASCF 2013 ~ Race Day and Sunday Sailing

 

Video from the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival
clips from the race and sailing with the girls on Sunday

Wrapping up posts from the festival with clips shot during the race on Saturday. We were late leaving the dock, and wind was very light, so we were about 100 yards back when the starting gun went off. No worries, had no intension of competing; just wanted to be in position to take good pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a little more wind on Sunday, though most folks cleared out early. Too bad, as it was a fine day to be on the water. Emily took the tiller again, and got her first taste of what it feels like when a puff comes along and makes things more exciting. I think she was hooked.

When we got back to the dock, which was all but cleared out, there was a smartly dressed couple waiting for us. Robert Benic and his girlfriend Tania had driven out from DC hoping to see some Melonseeds. Robert began building one back in Spring of 2012, and is now working on framing and interior, and doing a great job. It’s his first boat build, ever. We really enjoyed talking with them, and they got to see the boats in person they had come to know on the web.

On Saturday, we met a father and son who had been building a Melonseed together, and are on the downhill side of the project, and very excited to finish. They, too, had come out to see some in person. They had come to know all the other builder resources on the web, just as I did, and knew Aeon and Caesura now, too. It was fun for them to see the boats in real life. You could see that seeing the boats in the water, in use, was recharging their desire to finish, already imagining themselves in the boat sailing. It’s what keeps you going.

One of the really nice things about sharing is you get so much back. All the builders who helped me through my project are still well-known to me, and some are now good friends. It’s a very supportive group, and it’s nice to be able to pass that same spirit along to others, and share in their challenges and enthusiasm again. That sense of accomplishment when you finally work through a problem is really rewarding. No doubt they’ll do the same for others that come behind.

Great seeing everyone. Next year.

 

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MASCF 2013 ~ How to Shuck an Oyster

 

Video from the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival
Clips from Friday and Saturday.

Back when the Depression hit (the one in the ’30s) my grandfather, my dad’s dad, hitched a mule and plow to a fence post in a field in Arkansas. He walked into the road, thumbed a ride with a trucker, and left home and never went back. According to his brothers, this made his father – who was known across three counties for epic rages – mad as hell.

Besides lying about his age to get into the army, among other things, he believed he could scrape together a living if he could play music. He taught himself to play fiddle and started a band. They travelled all over the country playing dance halls and pasture parties full of Oakies and other desperate displaced persons. When he noticed saxophone players were getting better-paying gigs, he taught himself sax and learned to swing. There was a faded black and white photo of him on the wall in the house, wearing a suit and a skinny tie on some stage in a barn in the mid-west, a framed playbill next to it.

By the time I was 12, he’d forgotten how to play most of the songs from those years, and most of the guys who knew them had died.That didn’t stop him and some local buddies from trying, though, after a they’d had a few beers. Eventually, there were only about four songs they could play drunk with a fiddle, a guitar, and a gut bucket. Sitting up with them late at night I learned them all.

“Goodnight Irene” was one of them.

 

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MASCF 2013 ~ Saturday Race

Emily at the helm

 

Photos from Day 3 of the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival
With so many photos I’ll post them in batches over several days, so check back for more.

At noon there’s a skipper’s meeting for race instructions. The course is set at the last minute based on conditions. Very little wind this day, so the course is shortened dramatically over previous years. Basically a close reach, followed by a broad reach to the finish. There’s much ribbing and mock gravity during the proceedings, as usual.

Emily and I will go together in one boat, while Amanda stays on shore to watch the dogs.

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MASCF 2013 ~ Saturday Morning

 Sea & Sky

 

Photos from Day 2 of the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival
With so many photos I’ll post them in batches over several days, so check back for more.

The geese get started before sunrise. Then laughing gulls. Another calm morning, no wind expected until afternoon, so there was more time to walk the docks and look at boats. A good day for the paddlers.

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MASCF 2013 ~ Friday

Fogg’s Landing  

 

Photos from Day 1 of the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival
With so many photos I’ll post them in batches over several days, so check back for more.

We rolled in about an hour before dark on Thursday. Too late for the annual gunkholing trip, but early enough to clear the pine cones before pitching the tents. Tents everywhere already. Clearly, more people arriving early than previous years.

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Random St. Michaels

Great weekend so far. More wind coming Sunday.

These are just quick phone snaps. Lots more photos coming. Hundreds.

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postcards from the road