The voyage that changed it all, Part I
Side note: I left my camera on When and If. It will be returned to me next week, patience on the pictures, please!
It started out simple enough. I flew to Florida on Easter Sunday to have a cookout with my mom and brother, hung around with him for a couple of days, and went to West Palm on Tuesday morning to start the trip up the east coast on When and If. Thats where things stopped being normal and started to get ludicrously awesome in a hurry.
I arrived at the marina at about 9:30 AM and called Seychelles. She said Emyl would be by to pick me up in just a few minutes. I walked down to the end of the dock at the marina and waited. As I looked around, I saw what I would later find out was the largest mast on any sailing vessel on the globe. It looked like a skyscraper; it was hard to imagine a sail that large coming out of that tower. Emyl arrived and I hopped in the dingy. We took an immediate U-turn stopped by a beautiful new boat that he said had just got in from New Zealand, and that he knew the captain. As it turns out, it was the boat of Senator John Kerry, who also happened to be on board. He came over to the side, dressed in quintessential, northerner in the south, flowery board shorts and pink Polo shirt. Mr. Kerry shook Emyl's hand and asked if he was headed back to Vineyard Haven with When and If. Emyl replied affirmatively, and off we went.
Just outside of the marina, on the hook, was When and If. She looked very majestic next to the other boats at the anchorage, and definitely a head-turner to anyone who passed by. Music was playing as we approached, and I threw up my travel and sleeping bags onto the deck. I climbed aboard and was instantly delighted as to what I saw. I had some apprehension before this trip; I did not know what to expect of how the ship was run. I thought it would be relatively loose and casual, and I'm happy to say I was right. Tools were all over the deck as Emyl was making some last day repairs. Sails were not on yet and lay in bags covering most of the foredeck.
Emyl did not waste any time showing me around the boat and went straight forward and climbed out on the bowsprit. He uttered something about standing there and handing him tools, and I was glad to help in any way possible. We then started putting on sails. This was a bit different than a regular 30' to 40' sloop, as these were thicker, larger and consequently much heavier than what I was used to. There were six sails in total: the mainsail, foresail, staysail, jib, flying jib and fisherman. The foresail was gaff-rigged and I could not wait to see it raised.
Seychelles arrived soon after and Emyl went back to the marina to pick her up. I took this time to take my personal things below deck and have a look around. It was just as cluttered below as it was above, but no less beautiful. They both came back within a few minutes and Seychelles had brought most all of the provisions for the trip to New England. There were many different items including granola, lunch meats, cheeses, chicken, some canned goods, dried foods, teas, coffee, some beer, two tanks of propane, milk, jugged water, Kombucha tea (a personal favorite of Seychelles and Emyl) and a variety of vegetables.
The rest of the afternoon was spent tidying up When and If, taking their boat Dutch Maid to get fuel (which would be left at anchor in Florida), and bringing When and If to the dock for the night to wait for the other three crew members, top off the fuel and water tanks, put some ice in the chest, and charge up the batteries.
It was only the end of the first afternoon, and I was having the time of my life working on this spectacular boat with a couple of people who, although I had just met, I thoroughly enjoyed the company of.
It started out simple enough. I flew to Florida on Easter Sunday to have a cookout with my mom and brother, hung around with him for a couple of days, and went to West Palm on Tuesday morning to start the trip up the east coast on When and If. Thats where things stopped being normal and started to get ludicrously awesome in a hurry.
I arrived at the marina at about 9:30 AM and called Seychelles. She said Emyl would be by to pick me up in just a few minutes. I walked down to the end of the dock at the marina and waited. As I looked around, I saw what I would later find out was the largest mast on any sailing vessel on the globe. It looked like a skyscraper; it was hard to imagine a sail that large coming out of that tower. Emyl arrived and I hopped in the dingy. We took an immediate U-turn stopped by a beautiful new boat that he said had just got in from New Zealand, and that he knew the captain. As it turns out, it was the boat of Senator John Kerry, who also happened to be on board. He came over to the side, dressed in quintessential, northerner in the south, flowery board shorts and pink Polo shirt. Mr. Kerry shook Emyl's hand and asked if he was headed back to Vineyard Haven with When and If. Emyl replied affirmatively, and off we went.
Just outside of the marina, on the hook, was When and If. She looked very majestic next to the other boats at the anchorage, and definitely a head-turner to anyone who passed by. Music was playing as we approached, and I threw up my travel and sleeping bags onto the deck. I climbed aboard and was instantly delighted as to what I saw. I had some apprehension before this trip; I did not know what to expect of how the ship was run. I thought it would be relatively loose and casual, and I'm happy to say I was right. Tools were all over the deck as Emyl was making some last day repairs. Sails were not on yet and lay in bags covering most of the foredeck.
Emyl did not waste any time showing me around the boat and went straight forward and climbed out on the bowsprit. He uttered something about standing there and handing him tools, and I was glad to help in any way possible. We then started putting on sails. This was a bit different than a regular 30' to 40' sloop, as these were thicker, larger and consequently much heavier than what I was used to. There were six sails in total: the mainsail, foresail, staysail, jib, flying jib and fisherman. The foresail was gaff-rigged and I could not wait to see it raised.
Seychelles arrived soon after and Emyl went back to the marina to pick her up. I took this time to take my personal things below deck and have a look around. It was just as cluttered below as it was above, but no less beautiful. They both came back within a few minutes and Seychelles had brought most all of the provisions for the trip to New England. There were many different items including granola, lunch meats, cheeses, chicken, some canned goods, dried foods, teas, coffee, some beer, two tanks of propane, milk, jugged water, Kombucha tea (a personal favorite of Seychelles and Emyl) and a variety of vegetables.
The rest of the afternoon was spent tidying up When and If, taking their boat Dutch Maid to get fuel (which would be left at anchor in Florida), and bringing When and If to the dock for the night to wait for the other three crew members, top off the fuel and water tanks, put some ice in the chest, and charge up the batteries.
It was only the end of the first afternoon, and I was having the time of my life working on this spectacular boat with a couple of people who, although I had just met, I thoroughly enjoyed the company of.
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