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Good Times On The Ark

June 26, 2015

The summer of 1996, Dad and I criss-crossed the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay on Talisman multiple times to attend boat festivals.  The weather was brutal, gale after gale - a Force 6 was a pleasant day.  The wind was always on the nose, and Dad said we could predict the wind direction simply by knowing which direction we needed to go.  We pounded away, bruised, tired, wet, cold, and so salty we that we crunched when we moved. 

One afternoon we finally had a break - just sunshine and a nice breeze.  Dad took advantage of the time to take a much needed nap on deck.  The first pigeon came aboard in the early afternoon.  As exhausted as we were, it circled the boat, whacked into the main and flopped onto Dad's face.  End of nap!  The second joined us a little later.  We put them in an open carton on deck to keep them safe.  The third tried unsucessfully to land on the varnished boom gallows and slipped into the cockpit near his comrades.   Our weather luck went back to the usual, and the pigeons soon were soaked. We put the box below under the ladder to keep them warm.  They were cozy, but occasionally we caught the edge of the box on the way down the ladder and flipped them out.

In the evening I was on watch.  The wind had picked up and we were really moving.  The water poured in the hawsepipe and sloshed down the boat.  The long thin fish came in with the water, and washed out the back.  The boat continued to pick up speed, and eventually one fish didn't wash back out.  I tried to get him over the side, but he was too slippery and slapped away on the deck.  Exhausted, salty and wet, I finally hit my limit and started to giggle.  Dad swore I did my Daaayyyyd cry that I used when things were getting out of hand.  Maybe I did since we were really hurtling forward, but all I remember was laughing uncontrollably.  Dad marched up the ladder, adjusted the sails to slow us down, flipped the fish overboard and muttered "God damned Noah's Ark!" as he marched back down the ladder. It took everything I had to stiffle the next round of laughter as I heard him scrambling after the scattered pigeons. 

Cherry

June 18, 2015

Dad dusted crops for the Cherry brothers out of Robinsville, New Jersey.  His very first flight was spraying a liquid cargo.  This requires two planes flying in a configuration that allows each pilot to see the end of his partner's run so that he knows where to start his pass.
Curtis Cerry had a 1000lb load but put only 500lbs in Dad's plane,owing to his lack of experience.
Dad took off and was watching Curtis take off as he circled the strip.  It attracted Dad's attention that Curtis didn't seem to have much speed as he neared the midpoint of the runway.  It surprised him when Curtis began dumping his load rather that abort.
Curtis got off the ground, but never cleared the slope of the hill at the end of the runway. He crashed through the apple orchard on the side of the hill.  Dad landed and jumped into the truck with the others to see if Curtis was okay(and to get the wreck cleared out before there were any witnesses). As they approached the site, Dad's only comment was "I bet that's the only time you will ever find a Cherry under an apple tree." 

J3 Cub

June 18, 2015

Bob: D'ya know what happens if you put a J3  Cub into a nose dive, kill the motor, and let go of the stick?
Ted: Gee, no Dad.
Bob: She'll come out of the dive on her own.........upside down.
Ted: And how might you know this?
Bob: Guess. 

Single Handed Race

June 10, 2015

Bob entered Talisman in the single-hand race on the fourth day of the Mahone Bay Schooner Festival in Mahone Bay, NS in 1992. He had a good start, and I don't even remember where he finished. Clif and I took photos from the Avon inflatable.  It was a point-to-point race, not ending where it started but finishing near one of the members' homes where a party would be held. After the race had finished, Bob was on his way there when we rejoined him via dinghy. We came upon another competitor who had run aground - Bob offered to help. We ferried him a tow line and Talisman took up the strain; being twice the tonnage of the other schooner, Talisman easily pulled him off. However, not knowing where the channel was, Talisman immediately fetched up on a shoal where she remained until the next high tide. The skipper of the other vessel cut Bob's towline with a knife - he was furious! We tried everything - kedging, using the shown powerboat to take the main halyard to heel her over, hoisting sail -  but she was stuck fast. We got her off in the dark and took her back to Mahone Bay.

Talisman's 1st Race

June 9, 2015

Where to start? We sailed overnight from Essex CT to Edgartown, and then to Nantucket. The boat was beautiful but not equipped for a crew of 6. The stove was broken, there were no utensils or plates or cookware. We survived the first day on Oreos, pepperoni, and grapefruit - which kept flying from our hands and landing in the water as we tried to peel them! 

At the race, we were hapless. We had a good start and led at the first mark, which was downwind. A reach to the second mark with a buttonhook turn around it - and we couldn't!!! The wind had gone light and Talisman went into irons. For about 10 minutes. The entire fleet sailed around us, as we drifted and actually hit the mark. We were so green..... not realizing the main was sheeted in hard, and acting like a weathervane. As soon as the bow would start to fall off and we gather way, she would just round right up in the wind again. We were all cursing.....  but thus learned the motto that even though you lose the race,  you still have a chance to win the party. 

Talisman Stories

June 2, 2015

There were two songs my Dad often played on the boat in the evening.  He felt that, with just a few liberties, Jimmy Buffet's A Pirate Looks at Forty was a bit autobiographical....

Mother, mother ocean,
I have heard you call
Wanted to sail upon your waters since I was three feet tall
You've seen it all,you've seen it all
Watched the men who rode you switch from sails to steam 
And in your belly you hold the treasures few have ever seen
Most of them dream, most of them dream

and Lyle Lovetts's If I Had a Boat was a fantastical idea for retirement, a big barge with Talisman, and a house and a pony on top.

And if I had a boat I'd go out on the ocean
And if I had a pony I'd ride him on my boat
And we could all together
Go out on the ocean
Me upon my pony on my boat

As much as my Dad enjoyed the sailing, he loved the time with friends even more.  When the songs came out, so did the rum, and the jokes and the stories.  If Talisman's hull could talk!  We'd love to hear your Bob and Talisman stories, so please feel to share your favorites.


Mary Laura 


      

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