|
A Christmas Poem by R.L. Stevenson |
 |
 |
 |
|
Written by Richard Magner
|
|
Wednesday, 16 December 2009 08:27 |
|
"CHRISTMAS AT SEA"
The sheets were frozen hard, and they cut the naked hand;
The decks were like a slide, where a seamen scarce could stand;
The wind was a nor'wester, blowing squally off the sea;
And cliffs and spouting breakers were the only things a-lee.
They heard the surf a-roaring before the break of day;
But 'twas only with the peep of light we saw how ill we lay
We tumbled every hand on deck instanter, with a shout,
And we gave her the maintops'l, and stood by to go about.
All day we tacked and tacked between the South Head and the North;
All day we hauled the frozen sheets, and got no further forth;
All day as cold as charity, in bitter pain and dread,
For very life and nature we tacked from head to head.
We gave the South a wider berth, for there the tide-race roared;
But every tack we made we brought the North Head close aboard:
So's we saw the cliffs and houses, and the breakers running high,
And the coastguard in his garden, with his glass against his eye.
The frost was on the village roofs as white as ocean foam;
The good red fires were burning bright in every 'long-shore home;
The windows sparkled clear, and the chimneys volleyed out;
And I vow we sniffed the victuals as the vessel went about.
The bells upon the church were rung with a mighty jovial cheer;
For it's just that I should tell you how (of all days in the year)
This day of our adversity was blessed Christmas morn,
And the house above the coastguard's was the house where I was born.
O well I saw the pleasant room, the pleasant faces there,
My mother's silver spectacles, my father's silver hair;
And well I saw the firelight, like a flight of homely elves,
Go dancing round the china-plates that stand upon the shelves.
And well I knew the talk they had, the talk that was of me,
Of the shadow on the household and the son that went to sea;
And O the wicked fool I seemed, in every kind of way,
To be here and hauling frozen ropes on blessed Christmas Day.
They lit the high sea-light, and the dark began to fall.
"All hands to loose topgallant sails," I heard the captain call.
"By the Lord, she'll never stand it," our first mate Jackson, cried.
..."It's the one way or the other, Mr. Jackson," he replied.
She staggered to her bearings, but the sails were new and good,
And the ship smelt up to windward just as though she understood.
As the winter's day was ending, in the entry of the night,
We cleared the weary headland, and passed below the light.
And they heaved a mighty breath, every soul on board but me,
As they saw her nose again pointing handsome out to sea;
But all that I could think of, in the darkness and the cold,
Was just that I was leaving home and my folks were growing old.
By Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94). |
|
Last Updated on Wednesday, 16 December 2009 08:33 |
|
|
Delivering Empty Pockets to her winter home |
|
|
|
|
Written by Richard Magner
|
|
Monday, 02 November 2009 21:24 |
|
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Gradient Wind: N to NW – 5 to 8 kts
Current: flood Race Point 1545
Temp: 50
Yesterday, Brian and I (bundled appropriately for the weather) shared the last sail of the season on ‘Empty Pockets’.
Sailing off her mooring at 1215 in a slight northerly and after ghosting down the Mystic River between the Rock-pile and Morgan Point, and then reaching across to Groton Long Point, we continued down to Black Ledge short of the Thames River. At BL R”2”, we bore off wing & wing towards Race Point, discussing the likelihood of rounding Fishers Island. Shortly after passing inside and abeam Silver Eel , with the wind backing we began a reach towards R”2” at the Point, eventually rounding hard on the wind; a fickle sea breeze losing a squabble with the gradient.
After sitting off the Elizabeth Field for a half hour or better with no gain on Wilderness Pt, we bailed back towards Race Point with just enough breeze in the weakening flood to weather the buoy. Skimming past Silver Eel the breeze freshened, building to 8 kts, clocking northwest at North Hill and through the Dumplings. Passing Intrepid we witnessed in the distance the sunset (1643), along the south side of Seaflower, a rare occurrence sight into the waters of Long Island Sound*. Again the green flash failed to show.
After dousing the sails alongside Noank Shipyard, with a full moon peaking through the clouds and temperature dropping rapidly, the motor up the river in the dark was uneventful, securing Empty Pockets in her slip at 1800.
* For most of the year the sun sets over the Connecticut shore to the northwest or over Long Island to the southwest. Only for a couple of weeks in the spring and autumn does it set over the waters of LIS. |
|
Last Updated on Sunday, 15 November 2009 15:46 |
|
Written by Richard Magner
|
|
Sunday, 27 September 2009 19:08 |
|
Bob and I brought SeTherin home tonight. I had gone down on Tuesday morning after work, accomplished the disassembly and lowered the mast. Then late this afternoon we drove down with the trailer.
Shortly after arriving in Noank, we bumped into Dave Dickerson (Lindy), contracted for a delivery of a C&C 36 to Marblehead and in need of a ride out to the mooring area. Brian met us when returned to the dock, helped us secure the mast, tidy things up and float the boat onto the trailer. Then it was back to Glastonbury to SeTherin's winter home.
Mark Drive |
|
Last Updated on Sunday, 15 November 2009 15:50 |
|
Thames YC - Commodore's Regatta |
|
|
|
|
Written by Richard Magner
|
|
Monday, 07 September 2009 10:49 |
|
Sunday 09/06/09
Wind: NE, E 10-18, lulls-8, gusts-22, avg-12
Current: ebb North Hill 1210
Start time: 1025
Start: south of Vixen; Course: s/f-W-Intrepid-Silver Eel-Vixen-Intrepid-s/f; starboard-roundings
Shrouds: +4, +7, +3
We were down one crew today as Brian and “Empty Pockets” were on a cruise to Shelter Island and beyond. A pretty boisterous day for single-handing I say.
Expecting winds into the mid to high teens I cinched the rig down on the motor out to Vixen. The RC set drop-mark ‘W’ north of Vixen in towards the airport to give us bit of a windward start. Though, shortly after the start the wind clocked to the East. We had a decent start right on the pin and witnessed Kahoutec (IOD) harden-up and take Jennie head to wind. Jennie, then in an unintentional auto-tack forced Salud into an emergency duck of their stern. Good thing we were slightly trailing at the start and able to stay well clear. As it was the last hour of the flood, we tacked along the shore, though the wind was shifty both in direction and velocity (8 to 12).
Our first attempt to lay Intrepid fell short. And while on the starboard extension I looked up to see Matador (J80) begin to bear off in a duck of our stern, then stop and head right for us mid-ship, a t-bone. We were yelling starboard, and helpless, when at the last second they cleared. Had they hit us…. We then laid the mark and with a good set in 12 to 14 kts of wind, Matador clear ahead.
Passing North Hill, the Ensign ‘Triton’ overtook us to windward. Bob luffed the spinnaker a bit to slow us down so we could harden-up cross above their stern to windward pass and pull away. We had a timely douse and close jibe about Silver Eel. Then a very quick genoa reach to Vixen led to the outside track car forward & Bob trimming like a spinnaker. Likewise a tight fast rounding of Vixen and beat with multiple tacks to Intrepid.
This time we rounded Intrepid with winds of 16 to 18, and good set. After five-minutes we took a jibe shoreward for current relief. A few minutes later the jibe back to port did not go so well. Seth could not get the pole back on the mast. Somehow the pole got eased to the headstay and we ended up with an hourglass, Seth could not shake out. So we ended up lowering the chute and re-hoisting making for an exhilarating ride and a handful of long planes to the finish.
And speed record data point of 9.74 knts, far exceeding previous data.
After crossing the line, dousing the spinnaker and slowly working our way homeward, we heard the withdrawal of Hammer over the radio. Jeff Lamothe broke his arm holding on to the mainsheet as it swung across in a jibe.
2nd place
Link to Results
Three minute avg at finish
TWS: 17.8 kts, BSpd 6.8 kts
Peak last three minutes
TWS: 22.5 kts at 13:52:52
BSpd 9.74 kts at 13:54:39
Link to chart
Link to slide-show, (right-click, for next page option, 9-slides)
courtesy of David S. Costanzo |
|
Last Updated on Saturday, 12 September 2009 21:29 |
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >>
|
|
Page 1 of 19 |
