'Lo All, I went from a 36' wooden sportsfisherman to a 46' sloop rigged sailboat, then a 43' trawler and now to a 22' cuddy cabin with a 200 hp outboard. I also still have a 14' sailboat.
The 36' sportsfisherman was really a 1958 35' Owens, with an extra foot added in the saloon and an added flybridge. It was the 1958 Owens entry in the New York Boat Show. Came with old Hercules updraft-carbureted engines. Varnished bilges, kick plates over the props and a host of other "upgrades". Changed the engines out for 270 hp Crusader engines, which necessitated new running gear. Sold that when I bought the sailboat.
The sailboat was a Starratt and Jenks 45, but measured 46' with the bow pulpit/anchor roller. That boat sailed like a dream. I brought her to Panama City from the Chesapeake and sailed her for many years. I could sail her from the dock on occasion, but normally motored out to be free of the dock and a near-by point of land. After that, I sailed when there was at least a little bit of wind. Often, there would be wind out on the Gulf of Mexico, but it would die inland in the afternoon, so often had to motor in from the Gulf. On the Gulf, I usually set the sails for the favorable wind, set the autopilot, and threw out one or two trolling lines. Caught lots of fish. I earned enough seatime to qualify for a USCG 100 ton captain's license. Unfortunately, on an attempted trip to the Dry Tortugas Islands (west of Key West, FL). I ended up getting "near" heat stroke, which seriously affected my ability to be in the sun and heat for years. Ended up having to sell the sailboat for lack of use and bought the air-conditioned Celestial.
The Celestial was a 43' Albin sundeck trawler with twin 6B5.9m engines and a generator. For a long time I had to run the boat from the lower helm in the daytime because of my intolerance to heat, but eventually I could run her from the flybridge some in the daytime. We did run her to the Dry Tortugas and lots of other places in the Gulf. Hurricane Michael destroyed the Celestial. During the hurricane, she was well tied, so ended up pulling 2 and breaking 2 40' pilings and flying downwind into still more pilings where she was holed and sunk.
I now have a 22' Cobia cuddy cabin with an outboard and a 14' Scorpion (like a Sunfish) sailboat. I take then out whenever I can.
The point being - just being out on the water is cathartic.
"Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth;
whenever it is a damp drizzly November in my soul;
and especially whenever it requires a strong moral principle
to prevent me from methodically knocking people's hats off--
Then I account it high time to get to sea.
There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it,
almost all men, in their degree cherish very nearly the same feelings toward the ocean with me." (I think I got that mostly right.)
Melville
Moby Dick
Wayne
