To Maine with Taff

Isn’t life great?

You may or may not have read the book by Griff Reece Jones called To the Baltic with Bob. As I remember it Bob was a rather sad miscreant soul who preferred the company of the bottle than his fellow crew, he like Griff were rather miss cast, but survived the meandering journey, just.

Well this trip from Antigua to Maine was the antithesis of that trip. It was mostly characterised by laughter and ribald fun and jokes. That is how in brief terms this journey is recorded.
The crew, a not too subtle blend of the aged and the youthful. The aged fogies task to know roughly which buttons to press on the plotter and thus help influence the best route through, taking careful regard of wind angles and heeling moments so that tea is never spilt, also to help disseminate the weather information provided by our posh weather routers “Commanders weather”. Every wind shift was carefully assessed analysed before doing exactly what they told us.

The nipper on board is young Alex, I call him young because he is seventeen and it irritates him to be junior (although he never shows it) This young articulate adult is looked up to by his peers and adults alike. He is contemplative, seldom wasting words. He is on this voyage because his formal education is finished and the informal magical collage of life takes over, for him this takes the form of the sea. He is already a knowledgeable and fearless fisherman and free diver. His thirst for anything nautical is sponge like, ready to absorb the still wondrous and sometimes fickle elements of boats and the sea. He is a great guy, on time for watches and learning slowly that a tidy boat is an efficient and safe boat. His patience and skill at fishing is rewarded when he lands a fabulous twenty five pound Wahoo on a hand line!! Fantastic eating!!
Then we have our other mature and fairly mellow mariner as first mate.The epitome of an old sea dog, resplendent with beard and necklace of sea shells. This is topped by a pair of blue, blue eyes and a fund of fact and fiction of sea lore, laced with humour. This is our mate Peter Mac, sort of half man, half mattress. He can sleep for eight hours then rise like Billy goat gruff, or a wraith and cook his interpretation of a gourmet meal, the said meal mostly arrives on the plate! accompanied with its unique blend of garlic and sweat, he even remembers the salt sometimes. By far the best meals are those pre prepared and frozen by Alex’s Mum, Nancy.

And then there is me and one of the most enjoyable delivery trips, with few problems and light-ish  winds. That blend of the Full and Bye and the steady plod of the Yanmar iron spinnaker. The boat has been a dream to sail and quite quick. I shouldn’t be surprised at the turn of pace and dogged reliability, because at one time I used to own one, and enjoyed its safe and comfortable ways on many a trip.

 We have had to rely quite heavily on the fossil for this trip but as they say “time is money and we must keep moving at a reasonable lick.

Quotation of the trip

“You should try every thing once, except incest and Morris dancing”

Taff

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