Sailing
SLOOP: Restoring My Family’s Wooden Sailboat, An Adventure in Old-Fashioned Values. By Daniel Robb. Simon & Schuster, New York, N.Y. 2007. 318 pages with photographs. $25.
Winter is the ideal season when wood shavings fly, drills and sanders sing and Vineyard boat builders assemble and repair boats.
At one of the Island’s smallest boat shops, Rick Brown of Far Cry Boats in Vineyard Haven is working on two. Space is a premium inside his 15 by 36-foot workshop with limited heat. His fragrant shop is at Maciel Marine, next door to John Thayer’s cabinet shop, and has one of the best views of Lagoon Pond. The air smells of fresh-cut oak.
A 42-foot wooden schooner called Phra Luang won the 30th annual George Moffett Memorial Sailboat Race on Saturday.
The captain, Jeffrey A. Robinson of Vineyard Haven, was jubilant at the news. He built the schooner in Bangkok in 1984, and has sailed in Moffett Races since 1986.
Winds from the southwest were as high as 30 m.p.h. and there were a few sailors at the awards ceremony at the Vineyard Haven Yacht Club who thought it blew higher. Wind and waves and the course favored big boats with great reaching capability.
The 30th annual George Moffett Race will have more than one winner. Organizers of this year’s contest, scheduled for tomorrow, hope all the sailors who participate will walk away from the contest with smiles.
The Moffett Race is that kind of event. It has always been a contest involving a lot of sailing skill and the fellowship of a lot of champions. That’s not too bad for an event that costs only $40 to enter.
It's said that her name is Indian by origin and means Daughter of the Stars, but in truth she is more like the daughter of Capt. Robert S. Douglas. He planned for her, he provided everything she ever needed, and in return, she has never gone anywhere without him.
The eve of the start of the 84th annual Edgartown Yacht Club Regatta is a bit awkward for club manager William J. (Bill) Roman, 49.
For 21 years of working at the club, Mr. Roman has stayed low and focused his attention on making sure the affairs of the club go without a hitch. In a typically understated manner, he has hidden himself and sought to meet the needs of the club, its 875 members and their friends.