|
Village Craftsmen 
 170
Howard Street
PO Box
248
Ocracoke Island,
NC 27960
252-928-5541
info@villagecraftsmen.com
Ocracoke Newsletter
May 21, 2010
Guest
Column: Schooner
Windfall Sails into the Final Sunset
By Rob Temple, April, 2010
Leave her,
Johnny, leave her
Oh leave her, Johnny, leave her!
The voyage is done and the winds don’t blow
And it’s time for us to leave her!
----An old sea chantey traditionally sung at the completion of a voyage.
When I sailed
the
Windfall from her homeport of Ocracoke up to Scott's Boatyard
in Buxton on Easter Sunday with my son and a couple of friends for
annual
maintenance and a Coast Guard dry-dock inspection, I knew I was in for
some
costly repairs to a section of the hull which had deteriorated from
fresh water
intrusion, but that was not so unusual for an old boat constructed
mostly of
wood planking, along with plywood, epoxy and fiberglass.
(Photo by Tom Borneman,
courtesy of Captain RobTemple)
As
the yard crew and I began to dig into the hull, it became apparent that
a
proper restoration would exceed the cost of a new vessel. On
Wednesday,
April 7, I notified the Coast Guard that I planned to retire the
Windfall and
cancelled the scheduled inspection. By the following week, I
was in New
Jersey looking at another schooner that may soon become Windfall II.
Some
folks have expressed surprise at the alacrity of these events, but
those
who know me best were not surprised in the least.
Sailors
have always imputed varying degrees of human consciousness to their
boats. The fact that boats are usually referred to in the
feminine gender
is evidence of a prevailing affection felt toward them. But, love them
as we
might, we guys can never be sure we understand our women. And,
strangely
enough, that’s a big part of what makes them fascinating to
us.
With
Windfall, I guess I always wondered which of us would survive the
other. If she’d held on six more months, we would
have been together a
quarter of a century!
(Photo by Tom Borneman,
courtesy of Captain RobTemple)
And
I must confess (rascal that I am!) that, suspecting that this time
might
come, I’ve sort of had my eye on another shapely creature.
Couldn’t help but
admire the “cut of her jib” as they say.
I’m sure my uncle Pem, who
(inadvertently) taught me to sail long ago, is rolling in his
grave. He
wasn’t a schooner nut like I am but he was a devotee of
wooden vessels. I
remember a placard on the saloon bulkhead of his Dickerson ketch that
said, “If
God had meant for us to sail fiberglass boats, He would have given us
fiberglass trees.”
Windfall
II, although somewhat smaller and constructed of fiberglass, will
(from a distance at least) look very similar to her namesake. Instead
of 30
passengers, she’ll only be approved for six, but
I’m not getting any younger
myself and could use a change. The smaller capacity will require a
price
increase, but I don’t want to do that without adding value so
I’ll be offering
longer cruises where we can really do some sailing.
Of
course, we’ll grieve for the old girl. In nearly 25 years of
service,
Windfall carried tens of thousands of passengers from all over the
globe
without a single accident. And she sure didn’t owe me
anything.
For
years, people who understand business (and especially the charter
business)
asked me why I didn’t sell her at the top of her game and buy
a
newer/bigger/better boat. From a business standpoint it only would have
made
sense.
But
the fact is: I loved her. Every time I took the wheel of someone
else’s
boat, it only made me appreciate how much I enjoyed sailing that
schooner.
(Photo by Kitty Michell,
courtesy of Captain RobTemple)
Old
gaff-rigged schooners are no longer considered competitive performers.
That’s why the annual Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race is
strictly limited to
the schooner rig. In 2008, five of us sailed Windfall up to
Baltimore and
took third place in our division. She maintained speeds in
excess of nine
knots for most of the race and finished ahead of many of the much
larger
vessels. The vessel that will become Windfall II took second place in
the
schooner race in 2000, and I hope to take her back up there in the
fall.
One
of the boat yard guys said to me the other day, “Well, Rob,
it’s the end of
an era, isn’t it?” And I said, “Yes, and
it’s the beginning of a new one.”
I’d
like to thank all the people who’ve crewed on Windfall over
the years and
helped with her never-ending maintenance. Thanks, also, to those
who’ve sailed
with us and recommended us to others. Thanks for the photos and all the
compliments about how pretty she looked with her red sails in the
sunset.
But
life goes on! The new vessel should be here in the next few
weeks,
sailing in Windfall’s wake.
(Rob Temple lives on Ocracoke and has
sailed the Windfall on charter
cruises from Ocracoke and Florida ports for several decades.)
|
