They say the two happiest times of your life are the day you buy a boat and the day you sell it. Well, here’s to happiness because in December we bought another boat. You are probably thinking the editor is having a mid-life crisis, you know, Harley Davidson syndrome that affects men of a certain age. Well, you are wrong. It was my wife who found the boat online and steered me towards it. Okay, she did catch me sneaking out of the Harley dealership a week before, which only goes to prove that I married a very smart woman.
Our new boat is unlike any we have owned, being used to classic wooden yachts and steel clunkers that don’t cut through the ocean but bulldoze their way through it. G-String is a lightweight Dudley Dix Caribbea 30 cruise/racer with a healthy beam and flat sections. She also sports a wing keel, which might be old hat now but to me is cutting-edge technology.
G-String was built in South Africa and sailed single-handed to the Caribbean in the mid 1990s. After some TLC, she will make a lovely cruising boat for the islands and should I ever get the urge to cross another ocean, she will be good for that too.
Here’s how G-String got her name, or at least it is one version. The boat carries a spinnaker pole in fittings on the front of the mast. When the wind gets to a certain strength and blows between the mast and pole, it causes them to resonate and the boat sings a perfect ‘G’ note. I have heard it for myself.
It’s a plausible story yet it doesn’t explain the piece of skimpy ladies apparel I found buried away at the back of the chart table. Black and frilly they were, too. Whatever the truth, I now have Bach’s beautiful Air on a G-String on my iPod and we are working on a logo for the boat that combines music and, well, underwear.
And on that note …
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A recent visitor to St. Maarten left quite an impression on the sailing community. Galia Moss is on a sponsored sail around South America and the money raised is going to fund an education program in Mexico.
Sailing east to west around South America is no mean feat. First you must fight against the north going current as you head south down the coast of Brazil and then you have to make it to weather around Cape Horn or through the Straits of Magellan before turning north. With a length overall of 35ft, and of modern design and construction, her boat is no heavyweight but then neither is Ms Moss. However, given her spirit, I am confident that by working together with her boat she will complete this arduous voyage.
Many of the children who will benefit from her endeavor will never know or understand what she went through to help them gain an education. The ocean works in mysterious ways. Ms Moss is an inspiration and we wish her well.
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The camaraderie of the sea is alive and well and living in St. Thomas! In this edition, cruiser Barbara Hart describes how she keeps fit by rowing her yacht tender around Charlotte Amalie harbor. Unfortunately for her, every time she goes out for some exercise, other boaters think she is in difficulty and gallantly dash to her rescue. This made me chuckle but the tradition of going to those in distress runs strong in our seafaring community. Better by far to be thanked and sent on your way with a friendly wave than to wake up in the middle of the night wondering if your tardiness means someone’s now adrift in the middle of the ocean.
