In the 1970s, while living in Sioux Falls, SD I had acquired
interest in two boats. One was an Aluminum a 19 inboard/outboard runabout that
I owned outright and that we baptized “Brown Bear” . The other one was a 26’
sloop that I owned in partnership with a friend. We never bothered to baptize the
Sloop and only referred to it as the Chrysler 26. They were both trailerable
and we used to take them from lake to lake pulled behind the family van.
In that particular Summer we had decided to go and explore Bayfield,
WI at the suggestion of our friend
Martha whose family owned a vacation house there. She had described the wonders
of the Wisconsin Upper Peninsula and of the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior.
So on this glorious we piled the necessary (and a few
superfluous as was customary) equipment in the Van. Next the Sloop went on its trailer and the pair was
hitched to the Van. Then our son Denis, his sisters (regularly referred to as “The Twins”) Sara and
Debi, my gentle and very patient (wink wink nudge nudge) spouse Jinny and good
old me headed Eastward in direction of the Shores of Gitchigumi.
It was one of those magical trips of discovery of a
beautiful part of this country, Neither the Upper Peninsula, nor Bayfield nor
Lake Superior not the Apostle Island deceived us and they all met and surpassed
our expectations.
After having copiously explored the land we finally placed
the Sloop in its element and on a glorious sunny morning emerged under sail from
the marina in direction first of Madeline Island and then a few of its twenty-one
sisters.
Under full sails the little sloop was flying with just
enough pitch and roll to cause some discomfort to the Twins who very quickly turned
a light pale of green and violently surrendered the breakfast of pancake they had devoured
that morning. By the Grace of God they managed the action downwind avoiding
thereby the wrath of mean old sailor Dad! Then the proper motion sickness
medication applied they settled down, but in no way enthused by the process of
maritime exploration.
The day went by oh so quickly and soon we were on our way
back when all in the sudden, without any warning things started turning ugly
and we were in the middle of a respectable gale. Quickly the children were
place to the relative security of the cabin and had been wearing life jacket
since we left the marina. The sloop was a drop keel, tiller steered boat and
this particular one was notorious for dropping its keel on a very capricious
way and in a hard weather the tiller was a handful. Never the less the only
option was to ask Jinny to handle the tiller and keep us pointed to sanity
while I had to go forward to the bow to secure the foresail then standing on
the top of the cabin furl as much of the main sail that I could.
Then for some crazy reason the song of Gordon Lightfoot
refused to get out of my head the Saga of the Edmund Fitzgerald as the sloop
rolled and pitched crazily and water washed over the deck in sizable amount.
I had secured the hatch of the cabin to try to keep it as
dry as possible and I became seriously concerned by the fate of my kids stuck
inside a violently rolling and pitching cabin. Having brought the sails under control
and still able to maintain headway I was able to replace Jinny at the tiller.
Good Mother Hen that she is she decided to look inside to check on the fate of
the brood. She emerged laughing hysterically and took a few minutes to come
down enough to tell me that Denis was doing fine and that the two not seaworthy
young ladies of this morning were inside laughing their head off and truly
enjoying the best roller coaster ride of their lifetime!
Go figure!
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