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Dear Friends:
People keep saying, you must be crazy to travel to the icy cold, snow bound
northern cities of the USA in mid-winter. When we were searching for the nearest
highway exit in the midst of a raging blizzard in Northern Montana, when the water
system in our camper froze and pipes burst in Minnesota we agreed with them. But
the response to our seminars and the fine visits we have had with friends around
the country are excellent compensation. Now we are south of the snow belt, heading
to Kemah, Texas then on to California for the final round of seminars so driving
will definitely be far easier.
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The fun of Wooden boat festivals - meeting
new and old friends. This is Alex Shortle who came out to Victoria from Ohio to
admire all the wooden boats. |
In Mystic, Connecticut we moved right into the family life of Peter Legnos
and his three children. In 1968 Peter was 18 and crewing on a big charter boat.
He wanted off the boat in Cartagena, Columbia. Larry invited him to spend the
night on 24 foot Seraffyn. Peter was such a delightful addition that we shared
our boat with him for six weeks. Each visit we have with Peter is like coming
home and this time it was even more nostalgic because Seraffyn is in a boatshed
only a mile from Peter's house being lovingly upgraded with new teak decks under
the able hands of Rick Water's boat building crew Pierre. Seraffyn's new owner,
George Dow, joined us for a day to regale us with stories of the fun times he
has had with our favorite little boat. So Larry spent a lot of time climbing around
her decks, reminiscing and a funny thing happened. One day after George left,
Larry said to Rick and Pierre, "You know, I never was completely pleased
with the width of the king plank, it shrank and swelled too much. So now that
it's off, let's put a narrower one back in its place. The whole crew then began
looking at the ramifications of this change, deciding how it should be fitted.
All of a sudden Rick says, "Wait, Larry doesn't own this boat, I think we
had better talk to George before we even think of changing anything." A few
minutes later Rick comes back to say, "George says - Larry does own this
boat - go with his idea." It feels very good to see the work we did so lovingly
38 years ago, still is part of our life.
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Port Townsend is such a perfect setting for
festivals. The harbor was chock a block - yet everyone sailed out without any
hassle to enjoy the sailpast on Sunday. |
Since then we have had a grand rendezvous with Lillian, the wonderful friend
I made in Rhodes, Greece (you can see her photo in our Oriental Adventure). She
lives in Dexter Michigan with her lovely husband Micheal. Together we relived
the fine nights we had when she was cook on a charter boat and Larry and I were
preparing to set sail for the Red Sea. Then there were Jim and Beth Blackman from
Cocos Keeling Atoll, Jim and Lynne Foley from Ireland, it has been like a tour
of our cruising life with new surprises at each stop. On to Minneapolis where
the Good Old Boat Magazine Crew got together over 200 mid-west sailors for a grand
weekend of cruising talk amidst deep snow banks.
Our only flight on this trip was to detour to Miami for the first visit we
have had there. We found the weather change a bit too abrupt. But what a grand
time we had at the Miami Boatshow, where we re-connected with literally dozens
of folks we have met during the years as we voyaged on both Taleisin and Seraffyn.
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The new owner of Seraffyn took this lovely
photo of the transoms of our two favorite boats. |
Larry has had the responsibility of keeping our truck and camper in good
order - he says it is a lot like delivering boats, always checking, fixing one
thing after another to keep moving on. We burst the water system in the freezing
weather of the north and have now found about half the leaks. But with a few spare
jugs of water we are doing just fine and enjoying being back in our camper after
too much time in hotels.
As we drive south through New Mexico, with a planned stop to see the famed
Carlsbad Caverns, I am impressed again with how huge and beautiful this country
is. The friendliness of everyone we meet, especially in the smaller towns, keeps
us feeling like we are land cruising.
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This is the Sally B, built by our young
friend Ashley Butler and his wife Wendy in only 14 months. We cruised in company
with Ashley when he had Ziska, the 100-year-old Morecombe Bay prawner he finished
restoring when he was 21. He has now reached the grand old age of 26 and is presently
off across the Atlantic. Ashley earns his cruising funds by doing wooden boat
repairs and yacht deliveries along the way. |
For our friends in California, we now have exact details of our seminars there,
We will be doing an evening slide show at Orange Coast College on the 19th of
March, an all day seminar the 20th. Then we go on to Reno where on the 10th of
April we do a fund raising - all day seminar for the local group that helps Children
at Risk by introducing them to sailing and boatbuilding. April 13, we present
an all-day seminar at Encinal yacht club. Then it is our final boatshow - the
Jack London Square show, where we will be hosting a raffle to raise funds for
BAADS - Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors at our booth, and signing books.
Come see us at booth 915. We will do four one-hour talks during the show, Storm
Tactics, and Cost conscious Cruiser. (You can find more details on seminars by
clicking the seminar link on the opening page of our site.)
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Also Sally B. |
Yes, we have set ourselves a slightly hectic schedule the past few months.
But we are topping up our cruising kitty and looking forward to getting back to
Taleisin in two months to explore the grand islands to the north of Victoria,
British Columbia.
Fair winds and remember to keep to windward,
Lin and Larry
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