01 July 2010

History - Part 2.

The saga continues..

I blame credit Chesapeake Light Craft with bringing us together. CLC sells and designs kits for glue and stitch boats. Originally emphasizing kayaks their line now includes canoes, sailboats, and row boats. When we met back in 2000 we each owned a home build kayak. The boy had built his 17 foot kayak while living in Alaska. Mine was built by my father when I was sixteen, at 18 feet it is a beautiful boat, but was in need of some TLC nine years after construction.

We spent much of the winter of 2000-2001 re-glassing the bottom, painting, and varnishing my boat. At the same time the boy, let's call him SS, was building a trimaran rig with amas and akas for his kayak. Once Spring arrived we ventured along the Southern Maine coast checking out harbors, inlets and rivers from the vantage point of our kayaks.

(My Cape Charles 18 is on the right in the photo, his Chesapeake 17 is on the left. - alas this story predates digital cameras - so no photo of the trimaran rig.)

Once graduation arrived we had to decide where to settle. Due to some extended family issues mid-coast Maine became the location of choice. We each found employment at local boat yards and set up house in a second floor apartment.

..... .................. ....

Although on Rte 1, almost across from McDonald's, that apartment was a jewel with a picture window framing both the breakwater lighthouse, and Owl's Head light, in Rockland, Maine.

But how does sailing come into this story? More to come...




2 comments:

  1. marvelous job of restoration and improvement! How does the yawl work out re lee and weather helm?

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  2. Actually she is a ketch since she has a transom hung rudder, and so the mizzen is forward of the rudder shaft. That being said She balances beautifully, and it is lots of fun to adjust her course with the mizzen sheet! Thankfully this also means the old school electric ram to tiller autopilot doesn't have to work too hard. Thanks for the kind compliment on her restoration, it's been a long road, but worth it!

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