Queen Elizabeth II 1975
October 1975, I had returned to Newport after our year on the Isle of Wight, to close on our first house, that became another adventure. Bernadette and I had never taken a honeymoon; sailing and work had interfered. We had been booked on the France, however a strike prevented her sailing and eventually led to her being scrapped. Bernadette was returning from her family in France along with everything had had living in England aboard the QE II. Unbeknownst to her I booked on the QE II, only I was boarding in Southampton, while Bernadette was boarding in Cherbourg, along with our two dogs who had spent the year in France as England had such strict laws governing animals.
"A YACHTSMAN’S WIFE"
LOS ANGELES ARCHITECTURE
Never let anyone tell you Los Angeles is not fun. It is a most diverse city; culturally, architecturally; gastronomically. Full of Flowers. All that money has truly attracted the best of the best.
Honfleur
The theme of my blog would appear to be focused on sailing. As I wrote earlier, I am pleased to from time to time diverge to another aspect of life. at least to a point. Leave it to me to find a thread tying life to the sea.
Emile Moisson
I tale worth telling. Two men I know, of whom I am very fond, have a tale to tell. They are in their 90’s now. Their father from Pawtucket, RI. evidently was very talented at repairing textile looms. Before WWII he moved to France, to work in Lyon. His two sons attended public school. The war broke out. For those of you who are familiar with the history of that time in France, Phillippe Petain established the Vichy government, and fashioned an agreement with Germany. In exchange for two civilians, a prisoner of war would be released. The two boys were selected despite being american citizens. They were determined not to go. They enlisted in the french resistance, their american passports were destroyed, and they were given the identities of dead frenchmen, one being Emile Moisson.
Miami to San Diego
I am still kicking myself for not taking photographs of this trip. A friend( Tom Dykstra) called and asked if I would help tow a Dragon ( then an Olympic Class) from Miami to San Diego, I flew to Miami and the next morning we took off. we got as far as Orlando, where we were forced to stay overnight as a new transmission was installed. (a harbinger of things to come) Drove to Pensacola , without adventure. Our goal had been to drive 600 miles a day. With two of us driving it sounded feasible. We changed drivers each time we filled up with gas; which was about every two hours, as it turned out.
WOW
this just makes me smile every time.(double click on WOW, it will take you to a link)
Woodstock Generation
I refer to myself as being of the Woodstock generation; although I was not at Woodstock, in fact, at the time, I had no idea what it was. When Woodstock took place I was in the middle of the Atlantic ocean racing.
Homework
When I was lofting “Courageous” at Minneford’s on City Island; Phil Rhodes would come around the yard. He was retired from yacht design, but I never met anyone who had been involved in boats to let go just because time had moved on. Boats are a passion. It was clear that for Mr. Rhodes it was no different. We would chat; It must have become clear to him that I shared his passion. He started bringing work sheets with technical problems of various sorts for me to solve. The following week he would collect the “homework” and give me another set of problems to work on. I would receive the corrected sheets with comments. Something that continued until his death.