Greetings. The Frye Cove Cruise occurred just the past weekend, overcast and not a great deal of wind. In spite of the cold and the upcoming Toliva Shoals Race, there were eight South Sound boats present. The potlatch was attended by several drive-by sailors and it was only the park attendant locking the gate that broke up a cold, convivial party.
It was a good turnout, with new cruisers and experienced old salts. They were the opposite ends of the sailing spectrum, much like the author of this month's reviewed book, Gentlemen Never Sail to Weather. It was written by Denton Rickey Moore, it is in it's 2nd edition, and was published by Prospector Press, Moore Haven, Florida, in 1994.
Mr Moore and his wife, Velda, set sail from Morehead City, North Carolina in November 1981. They returned in 1986. At the start of the circumnavigation, Mr Moore was not the most capable of sailors, nor was he even close to being comfortable with navigation. The subtitle of this book, The Story of an Accidental Odyssey: Around the world in a 50-year old yacht at four miles an hour, is pretty much what happened.
Mr. Moore was an under-aged Marine in the Pacific during World War II, a commercial fisherman and homesteader in Alaska for 16 years, earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Washington, taught law, and was a fisheries official in the other Washington. It is the background that helps to explain the man and how he managed, at the age of 55, to sail a large square-rigged ketch around the world.
If there was an unnamed crewman, his name must have been Murphy. If Mr. Moore and Velda could make an error, crewman Murphy would make sure that it was magnified by time, weather, traffic, health or maintainance.
Crew members are a large part of the yacht Prospector and Mr. Moore is evenly divided on all
that he had on board ... he either loved them, or wished he could banish them to a small island,
as he did with two. He was very fortunate with several, getting good sailors and engaging
personalities at the same time. Others were good sailors with frictional characteristics and
still others had no sailing skill at all - one was terrified of heights, on a square-rigger.
Mr. Moore is honest enough to observe that his leadership skills were not the best and that the
age difference may have caused some of the problems. Finding crew was not a real problem
and by the end of each leg of the voyage, saying good-bye wasn't either.
Mr. Moore does not paint all of the people and places as the perfect ports. Disorganized bureaucracies are a particular target for his pen. A few individuals, unnamed, are portrayed as hostile to cruisers. Even government policies come under attack.
Through all of the problems and all of the ports, it is the curiosity that keeps the Moores going on. They obviously enjoyed the entire journey, the people they met, the places they saw. They realize that it is a small world once you have gone out on it. The actions of one set of people in one part of the world will impact on the rest in due time. The islands that they visited were changing even while they were there.
I recommend this book, Gentlemen Never Sail To Weather, to all who feel that they are
just not ready for the big step. Get out, provision and make that trip to Desolation Sound or
Alaska. To keep it closer, go out for the weekend, visit Longbranch or Cutt's Island.
There is always another leg to be sailed.
Hunter Davis, Puffin