Christmas morning, Sunset House
I went for a Christmas dive at Sunset House with a group of
friends – Richard, Norma, Joe, Mark…we all wore Santa hats and took a group picture
with the mermaid.
I got a bottle of Diplomatico Reserve Exclusiva Venezuelan Rum for Christmas, my very favorite rum at the moment. And a couple of books about sailing I found at the animal shelter shop. And already feeling much better about the lack of boat maintenance being done.
The first book was John Kretschmer’s story of sailing round Cape Horn in a Contessa 32 – my dreamboat. Contessas are very similar to Elizabethan 31s; both are tough heavy English sailboats built in Lymington in the 1970s, designed to be sailed in gale force conditions. Compared to Gigi, Sonic Boom is actually longer in the water, slightly narrower and heavier, has a longer keel, larger cockpit, more headroom…
It’s always interesting to read about storm tactics; I smiled when Kretschmer wrote that when the wind went up from 40 knots to 50, and waves up to 15 feet, he added another reef in the main, rolled in the jib a bit more, and maintained course. But what about in even worse conditions than that? Many sailors like him, and with boats as good as a Contessa, argue that in a hurricane out at sea, instead of going bare poles, the secret is to heave to. Both tactics were tried in my next book – the story of the 1979 Fastnet race and the deadliest storm in sailing history.
Richard Santa
wreck of a world War II landing craft
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