sailing ships

I have been following the story on the cruise ship that lost it's main engine at sea.Now that I know everyone is safe back in San Diego, I have had time to think about what was being said about the cruise. They had only cold showers, warm drinks, tolites that didn't work,and the food was spam and poptarts.
When we went for a cruise on our sail boat, and I am in no way makeing light of their plight, we took showers on deck either salt water over the head out of a bucket or a rain shower.We had cool drinks till the ice ran out. The tolite broke down a few times and had to be rebuilt at sea. And yes,we did eat spam along with a lot of other can goods. I guess the main dfference was our expectations of the cruise. I did not expect cool drinks and expected spam. The people on the cruise ship did expect ice in their drinks and fine dinning. That is a good thing for me to keep in mind, what are my expectations?

sailing ships

I am sorry for the long pause from sailing ships.I was working with Tate Publishing; we were getting my new book ready for publication- MOM FROM DOWN UNDER- It is about my mom's childhood in Western Australia. I hope everyone will pick up copy- it will soon be released. Pick up a copy through Tate Publishing, Amazon or you local book store and don't forget you can still get a copy of-SAILING SHIPS AND THEE.
Meg

why sailing?

My father pick the best place for repeated shake down cruises, the passage between Hampton Roads and Bermuda and back. We took this trip every summer till my parents left for their around the world cruise. We exerienced a hurricane, tropical storms, flat calms, terrific squalls,being struck by lighting.... We all learned immense things about the boat and how she handled in all kinds of weather. And during these cruises my love for sailing burst forth. I was hooked forever. Sailing had become a passion. One of my favorite times on board was the last watch of the day..... and the dawn that came at the end of the watch.Meg.

why sailing( sailing ships and thee)

We have been painting the inside of our house- or should I say my husband and son have been doing the painting I have been taking on the role of decorater. Boy ,these blistering hot days remind me of our trips to Bermuda and living aboared during the summer.As I recall the trips to Bermuda, espescially the long ones, were particulerly hot with lots of storms. Coming into St. Georges harbor was always exciting and the anticipation of the harbor was great fun. On a long trip we would take bets on our arrival time with a promise to the winner a dish of rum and raisen ice cream from Robertson's phamacy which also served the best hambergers. Delcious,thick hambergers with a slice of Bermuda onion and all the trimings. My parents sailboat and Bermuda became my second home. Sailing to Bermuda became an experience some of which you can read about in my book-- Sailing Ships And Thee--like getting struck by lightning or the hurricane we encoutered. There was also a tropical that pushed us incredily close to Diamond Shoales off North Carolina. Most of all ,it is the first time I saw the green flash . When the sunsets and you have an unobstructed view of the horizon, as the top of the sun just kisses the horizon there is a green flash.It is one of the most amazing things I have seen.I know there is a scientific explanation for it(my father was a physicist), but it makes you realize there is a God.meg

why sailing?

As I had mentioned before, my father left a legacy of sailing. I seem to be the only one of his girls that inherited his love of sailing. He taught me everything I know about sailing. He was a natural teacher and not only taught me, but any crew member who was willing to learn. Teaching maintence of boats was critical to him, especialy since our sailboat was wooden. We made about 8 trips to Bernuda.The last trip was the first leg in their trip around the world and Bermuda would be the culmination of the trip. Going to Bermuda was a good shake down cruise. It took us anywhere from 5 to 15 days to go from the Chesapeake Bay to Bermuda. The trip lenght was dependent on the weather and we encoutered all kinds of weather! I know this blog seems a bit rambling, but I would like to use it as a springboard for several topics, So if you can hang in there, soom you will see...... I would like to talk about Bermuda, my summer home; the weather,the green flash; boat maintance......

why sailing?

Getting back to my passion for sailing.... I had a few eyebrows raised over my statment about hating sailing. It started about age 11.This was my first ocean voyage; and my one and only encounter with a hurricane at sea. That event alone made me hate and fear sailing. But, against all the arguments I could present, we still sailed to Bernuda every summer. Our perpetual shake down cruise for around the world trip, one day. My hate for sailing grew. I wanted to spend the summer at home playing with my friends. Slowly as I entered in my teen years, Bermuda itself became a drawing factor. And I was allowed to bring friends along sailing. The hate began to lose it's edge. And then one day there was a love and a passion there; like the day I realized I loved the man who was to become my husband. It was like a veil being removed and I could see clearly....meg

why sailing?

A thought about the American girl sailing around the world. I want to offer her my encouragement on a job well done. What I understand happened, is she encountered a storm with gale force winds, and a rogue wave that de-masted her vessel. What I can discern she stayed calm and appropriately responded to her circumstances.

why sailing?

let us add a bit of controversy in this blog: did anyone watch the 20/20 last week where the 16 year old Aussie girl and the 16 year old American girl were sailing around the world each alone? The question was; were they too young to make such a voyage? My father was 65 when he and my mom made their voyage, was he too old? I am not saying anyone can make that trip. It takes a level of maturity and skill to sail alone or with a crew for that matter. Sometimes, I think, having crew can make a sailing trip around the world far more difficult. These young women seemed well able to make such a voyage. As for the parents, my father made me a full crew member at age 15. So when I was on watch I had full responsiblity for the boat and people on board. Was this wrong? I do not believe it was. I had enough experience, skill, and maturity to match any crew member we had aboard of any age. I think age to some degree is not the issue. Other factors are a stronger issue.----meg

why sailing?

oops! I bet you thought I forgot my blog this week? No such luck! As I was saying my dad handed down the passion for sailing to me the 4th of four girls. He started me sailing in the Chesapeake Bay at the age of 6 years old. He had me sailing our catamaran. She looked like a wooden shoe from the side view. I basicly learned to sail multi-hull boats first. I remember we would sail over to the sandy beach on the barrier island where I now live. I also remember sailing home one evening and having flood lights trained on us because someone thought we were poaching their oyster beds Funny the things you remember as a kid,I must have been impressed with the lights and gruff voice behind the lights. Back to sailing, it was fun and a bit of adventure in my young life.But,soon I would go through a time of hating sailing.....

why sailing

On a lighter note, to regain our sense of humor and show the outrageously funny side of sailing. My husband always tells this funny story about this guy he knew and sailing. My husband got the story second hand,anyway. This guy was an experienced sailor and he had a date he wanted to impress.This girl had never been sailing before and most definately did not know the lingo that goes with sailing. Well as the story goes, they were having a lovely afternoon sailing. This guy needed to change jibs. He headed the boat into the wind and left the girl at the tiller with instructions to hold the boat heading into the wind until he was finished changing sails. Well, she had just gotten the hang of keeping the boat into the wind when this guy started yelling at her to fall off. She thought it a ridiclious request, but he was so adamant about it, so she did just that- she fell off the boat. Now if you would like to know how my husband got this experienced sailor to jump off a sailboat, read my book SAILING SHIPS AND THEE.(you can get it at amazon, tate publishing, or your local book store).

why sailing

Let me back up a little about my dad, and give you some background on his passion for sailing. He was first exposed to boating in general on the great lakes where his relatives would invite them often for summer vacation. later his relative, who worked as a purser, would be lost at sea aboard ship caught in a storm on the great lakes.This incident did not deter him. He signed up for scientific staff aboard the Yacht Carnegie. The Carnegie was a 150foot brigantine-rigged sailing vessel. She was specially built nonmagnetic ship, designed and built by Carnegie Institute, for research. It was aboard this ship that his passion for sailing began along with his desire to sail around the world on his own boat. I remember as a child him telling me about sailing on the Carnegie. She blew up in 1929. Gasoline fumes in the bilge ignited.It is hard sometimes to fathom that my dad learned so much from the sailors aboard the Carnegie, but he did and the crew must have been terrific sailors.
His passion was inherited by me-Meg

why sailing

I am new at this bloging- so a sense of humor would be appreciated.

Why sailing? Was the question of my marketing representative.Her question struck a chord with me, as somehow I had thought everyone would know the answer.( a chuckle emiting from readers would be ok at this point) But, then I knew she was looking for the origin of my passion for sailing expressed in the book I wrote( Sailing Ships and Thee). My father was the one who passed on this legacey of sailing as I also realize my husband's father started the same passion for sailing burning in his heart. And how do I know my dad and my husband's dad passed on their legacey? It is because each of them passed on, yes a passion for sailing in general, but the specific or limit on sailing was passed on too--crusing for me, racing for my husband.

You see my dad's goal in life was to sail around the world while my husband's dad wanted( as he told me) to win every race no matter what boat he was sailing. Did they accomplish their dream for sailing?

Oops- I just heard the dryer buzzer go off-I have to get back to you later!