Dogwatch – July 2019

Dogwatch (n): For sailors, either of the 2-hour watch periods between 1600 and 2000;
For journalists, the period after going to press when staff stand by in case breaking news warrants a late edition.
Volume 2, No.9

The Fourth of July Meltdown

Fourth of July weekend, all the family gathered at Grandpa’s cottage on Harsens Island in Little Muscamoot Bay. The cousins caught fish off the seawall while the uncles grilled burgers and the aunts sunbathed. There wasn’t a cloud that dared form and the water was a cool escape from the heat. It was the perfect day to celebrate American Independence and to spend some quality time with family from out of town.

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News from the Helm

Can overboard okay? Surviving on the water on busy days, a special offer for The Dogwatch readers, and nautical trivia…
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Mail Buoy

Caribbean explosion, revisiting the Eliquis boat, mega nuts?, and water-vulnerable electronics opinions and experiences…
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Put it to the Readers

By Michael Robertson

We believe in Summer Sailstice, the June 22, 2019, worldwide celebration of sailing. We think it’s important, getting people out sailing, hopefully taking the opportunity to introduce a non-sailor to sailing. Summer Sailstice was the 2001 brainchild of Latitude 38 publisher John Arndt. He’s got our support. We sponsored it again this year, we publicized it, and now we’re following up. We want to gauge the level of participation.

So, I put it to the readers: Did you take the initiative to sail the June 22 weekend? Did you do so because it was Summer Sailstice, or would you have sailed anyway? Did you make it a point to sail because we announced Summer Sailstice in last month’s The Dogwatch, or did you not know it was Summer Sailstice? In 150 words or fewer, tell me about your time on the water, your sail that weekend. I’ll pick one storyteller and send them a free Good Old Boat hat.

As always, I’m at michael_r@goodoldboat.com

Book Review

Click the book title for our review of the following book:

200,000 Miles: A life of adventure
by Jimmy Cornell
(Cornell Sailing, 2018; 409 pages)
Review by Fiona McGlynn

Poem of the Month

On the Driveway in Winter

I lay on the ground ’neath the Boston Whaler,
it was on sawhorses and not on the trailer.
And what do you think that I held in my hand,
why ‘twas my Boston Whaler trailersailer bailer
which I planned to refit and re-bed and re-caulk, you see,
because it’s so very important to me.
It keeps out the water and empties it too,
a really quite clever thing for it to do.
I held it in place, looked over it twice
and thought to myself, it fits very nice.
Then suddenly from the north a great wind blew,
the dust started flying and I dropped a screw.
The weather turned chill as north weather will do
and I did what I did and so would you.
I packed up the bailer, I picked up the screw,
I covered the Whaler as my cheeks turned blue.
I zipped up my jacket and turned up my collar
and ran for the house as I started to holler,
“I can’t take the chill, this cold wind could kill, I need something finer”
and I went to the recliner.
Now I’ve eaten my toast and sipped my hot tea,
I lean back in the chair and it occurs to me,
it’s still early in winter and I’m not a failer
just because I’ve not fitted my Boston Whaler trailersailer bailer.

—Richard Green, Pacific Northwest sailor and owner (and part builder) of countless sailboats over his lifetime, including the pictured Jay Benford-designed 22-foot sloop he launched in 1980 after machining all the bronze fittings himself.

A winter poem in the summer? Maybe we’ll make up for it with a summer poem this winter. And you can help. Have you written a sailing poem (or haiku or bawdy limerick) you want to share with Dogwatch readers? Send it to Michael_r@goodoldboat.com and it might wind up here.

Sailor of the Month

Barb Grauer is our Dogwatch Sailor of the Month. Here she is aboard Bay Scout, her 1985 Endeavor 33, anchored in Leeds Creek, across the Miles River from St. Micheals, Maryland. Barb’s husband, Larry, wrote that in addition to being a mean helmsperson, Barb is a galley gourmet and head bartender. Larry wrote, “She followed me into sailing and has grown to love it as much as I do. We’ve been sailing the Chesapeake for about 10 years now and hope to one day sail down the ICW and across to the Bahamas. More times than not you’ll find Barb at the helm leaving me to trim sails, including our asymmetrical spinnaker, which we’ve flown all the way up into Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.”

Nominate a sailor in your life by sending me a hi-res photo of them sailing. Maybe they’ll be chosen! As always, I’m at Michael_r@goodoldboat.com

–MR