I confess to being a sailing wannbe. I am not sure lurker is an enduring term, but that has been my place here these past six months. I am an avid reader and after an auto
accident permanently disabled me from
work, I am even more resigned to that role (a crushed vertabrae). I have been reading of sailing adventures both fictional and non fictional for years from Slocum to Hiscock to Robin Lee Graham and some Alexander Kent thrown in for good measure, but when I encoutered the voyages of the Copland
family "Just Crising" and "Still Cruising" a chord was struck and I began collecting
books of similar experiences where ever I could. I also began to renew my interest in 17th and 18th Century fiction, the volume of material which I was able to find amazed me. I will never likely own a sailing vessel. But I can vicariously enjoy both your trials and triumphs. I have a particular interest in the
Carribean having served and an academic dean/teacher for a theological college in Trinidad for a number of years. When folks write of the Carrange in Trinidad or Carlilse Bay in
Barbados; of Scarborough in Tabago or St George in
Grenada I've been there, just not in a
boat. I took the opportunity to visit seventeen islands while I was in the
Caribbean so the reports you kind folks share, bring happy memories. I am nestled in the
Pacific Northwest on the Long Beach Penninsula and regularly prowl the docks in Ilwaco wistfully perusing vessels who stop there. With the
Columbia river bar and the unfriendly coasts both north and south we mostly get river traffic up from the
Portland area. I love the
humor and easy camradirie of Sailnet and appreciate the hard
work of the moderators to manage the large number of contributors. Keep up the stories from
Newfoundland to
Florida on the side of the nation I wouldn't care to live, tickle my memory of the glorious San Juans to Marina del Ray, but above all tell the tales for those of us who can only read of your adventures.
Glenn