Re: Wide Open
It gets better Father Frank. I didn`t just capsize , I pulled a full turtle in the cut channel over by the saddle of Sandy Neck in Barnstable harbor.In the middle of an out going tide! The rudder was just a drop on affair that thankfully floated nearby. I lashed it to the tiller. I swam under to raise,or was that lower the center board.The mainsail was another story, and the mast was getting VERY close to the muck. I ran the main sheet through the top er bottom gooseneck and lowered er raised the main sail. There was a Laser class race going on at the time and someone had called the committee boat over. We towed her in to the beach and rolled her over. I hand pumped her out and called it a day. Bunny Howard said no one had turtled a Beetlecat in recent memory. He wasn`t a young man at the time.
I stopped by at the end of the season in `93 , not having seen the place in 20 years. Now , BYC wasn`t much of a YC at all. It was really a place to drop the squids off to get them out of the house. No power or phone save for Bunny`s shop, no running water. We used to prime a hand pump w/ sea water. The water had the most wonderful flinty taste.
Bunny was about to haul a Rhodes 18 with that same old red tricycle gear Farmall tractor, as I walked over. We were the only ones in sight. He said , You come down in that Jeep with them Floooooridah tags on it? I said Hi Bunny. He squinted and said Oh your that Staaahhhk kid aintcha. I laughed and said the place looks great. I said Bunny the place hasn`t changed a bit. He said some places aint meant to change ya know. He asked Ya wanna crew? I said I`d love to. I had a great time sailing and asking what happened to so and so and catching up on lost time. There were only 2 piers , the well maintained main dock , and Bunny`s rickety old pier. He kept it that way on purpose. It held lots of flounder! I asked if he would mind. He said I was one of the only ones who ever fished it besides himself. I grabbed my rod and some mussels off a piling and he was right. Bunny liked flounder too. I gave him one and asked about the wife and kids as he did the same. Hows ya Mum n Dad n Brothahs n Sistahs is a close mental picture. Yup , some places aint meant ta change.
GFS
You can google John Howard and John Howard II aka Bunny and Beetle Cats to learn more. Commodore Howard was a legend.
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