In my heart-of-hearts, I am a sailor...a wanderer...a voyager - this blog will hopefully become a useful collection of notes and links to resources that I think other sailors might find interesting or useful.
A speculator. A poor excuse for a musician. A sometimes poet. An aspiring writer. I live for adventures. I have a gypsy spirit.
The world is my home.
Therefore, I may not be quite rational in my views regarding this particular boat
I have
found beauty in all manner of boats. Sailboats. Powerboats. Short boats.
Long Boats. Narrow boats. Skinny boats. Plump and wide boats. Wooden
boats. Steel boats. Fiberglass boats. Ships. Trawlers. Day Sailors.
Dinghies. Even, Tugboats.
But, there is one boat that I have never been able to muster even the slightest admiration for...
Each and every one that I have ever seen elicits only one visceral reaction: It is a hideous monstrosity...
If given one for free - i would sell it immediately. And, if all paths to unload it were for naught - then I think that I might very well seek to burn and sink it - or, at least consign it to a
landfill.
I don't know if I have ever found a sailboat that was more ugly, and ungainly, than the blighted CAL 2-46.
It makes me think that the designer had a fond fetish fantasy of
sailing a train boxcar (or, perhaps a shipping container) - and the very
concept of elegance completely escaped him...
I am more comfortable leaving a harbor, than navigating within its restricted waterways...
I feel a greater sense of safety as I depart a harbor - heading out for
deep ocean, than approaching land - or entering a harbor (unless I am
fleeing the edge of a a storm at sea)
Being far off at sea -
looking around at nothing but water - with no ships or land in sight -
fills me with peace - and after the third day at sea - I enter into "a
state of grace" with the sea.
I am
more comfortable among those who are masters of their own ships - than
navigating the ways of some of the dirt dwellers.
For those who seek the sea, must be, by necessity, self-reliant and able-bodied.
Those among the dirt dwellers - who are always dependent on a hand-out - will never be able to know the ways of the sea - for she demands an entry price before she grants the boon of passing over her waves.
For those that seek to always
blame others for their own unpreparedness - who would embark upon a journey or
venture without proper forethought, preparation, and planning - who fail
to master the required skills of their craft, equipment, and tools -
could never possibly last long upon the sea.
To be sure, there are
pirates and scoundrels upon the sea - but there is a great filtering
process that impedes their ranks from growing unbounded - which is not
so readily found among the tribes of the dirt dwellers.
The sea
judges all - and its judgement is absolute and final. There is no
favoritism shown - no advantage bequeathed by power, title, lineage, or who you may know.
Many years ago, in another time and another place, in another marina - I had a dock neighbor. Let's call him Benny.
He was, as he would frequently tell everyone - a __great__ marine mechanic.
He
lived aboard his older, dilapidated, powerboat - and always seemed to
be out of work.
In between bouts of extreme drunken benders - he could
frequently be found badgering people in the marina - trying to persuade them to let him do some engine
maintenance on their boats.
I noted that in all the years I knew Benny, not once did he ever get the engine on his power boat to run. Not. Once.
Benny had what is technically known as, "a high Ick factor".
It could have been the way he spoke disparagingly of all of the boat yards that had fired him...and of the other boat owners in the marina....
Or, it could be how he threatened and cursed someone on the dock who declined his offer to work on their engine.
Or, it could have been his carefree disregard for ethical behavior...
I was always cordial with Benny - and would engage in his banter.
He could be quite sincere and charming, sometimes. Especially when not in a drunken stupor.
Benny always made me think of the character of "Michael" in the movie, The Perfect Storm.
One
late evening, as I was returning to the marina after a long day working
in a client office - I noticed Benny was cleaning some fresh catch. It
was a squid - and he planned to use it in a pasta dish he was cooking
for dinner. He invited me to join him aboard his boat for dinner. I
was so caught off guard - that I found myself mumbling an acceptance.
Now,
you have to understand something. Benny was near-destitute poor - and
here he was, offering to share his meager evening meal with me. That had
a profound impact on my impression of him as a human being. This was a man, who had so little, possessed an abundance of a character train that I hold in high regard:
I managed to rummage up a bottle of red wine from my galley - and joined him aboard his boat.
Over
a few glasses of wine, Benny shared with me some of the stories from
his life. I don't recall whether it was time he spent in the Merchant
Marine - or perhaps it was the U.S. Navy - but he had spent time at sea.
And so, my esteem for him was further elevated.
Benny was never an intentionally evil person.
I don't think he ever consciously meant to offend people (in general).
He
was just a down-on-his-luck fellow, struggling to get by - who probably
suffered from some severe personality quirks (or, was simply burdened with some serious anti-social
behaviors - or, suffered from a serious lack of lack of anger management skills) - which continued to
confound his desire to find work. Although, from my vantage point - and
direct observation - over an almost 2 year period - I would challenge
anyone who might have asserted that he had a strong work ethic. At the
heart of the matter, I believe Benny was just a marginally good-natured
boat-bum.
Benny also had what I would consider to be a flexible understanding of ethics. Let me explain.
I
remember (with horror) the time Benny suggested he could remove and clean the
injectors from my diesel engine - which he claimed was the root
cause of the minor smoke issue I had mentioned to him in passing. But, I
also knew of another boat owner - who had had Benny remove his
injectors for a similar cleaning (having paid Benny in advance) - but was seeming to have ongoing problems with getting Vinny to complete the job - and reinstall them. Benny
seemed to think he should be paid a bit more money for the job.
Another
time, someone in the marina had paid Benny to do some work on their
boat - and had given Benny the combination to the lock on his boat. One
day, in some conversation that I overhead - Benny suggested that he
could just go to that guy's boat and borrow some of his tools (for some
other work he was offering to do for another boat owner). Going aboard
someone's boat - for any purpose - other than what they have agreed to pay
him for - is a violation of ethics in my view. Taking tools off a boat -
for use elsewhere - was not something he should even have considered
doing.
Near the end of my stay at that marina - Benny was evicted for non-payment of his slip fees.
I
have no idea where Benny is today - but I imagine him sitting in a bar,
somewhere around a dingy waterfront wharf - drinking heavily - and still
complaining about his most recent job termination.
In some other parallel universe, Benny might have been Captain Ron's younger brother.
