I have this good friend who is a sailor. About a year ago he decided to build a small skiff for rowing and enjoying the
water in our area. Rich is the type of self sufficient fella that believes in conservation, re-use of materials, etc. A good part of the
lumber he utilized in building his
small boat was found locally, either in the garbage or washed up on the shoreline of the
Hudson river.
Every now and then Rich will pay me a visit at our
boat by rowing his skiff into our marina and silently coming up to the transom of "Moon Dance" and calling out to see if I am on board. Yesterday was one of those days. As it was late afternoon and I was pooped from another long day of
boat work it was an ideal time to knock of and shoot the breeze with Rich about anything and everything. At one point I glance over at his skiff that is tied up in an empty slip and notice that he now has a small
mast stepped. When I ask him whats up with the new stick and if he has made a sail for the boat he tells me that he has been using his "Wind Scoop" from his larger boat as a sail just to see how it would
work. Now the
wind here has been blowing pretty well the last number of days and knowing how flimsy the construction is on the "Wind Scoop" I am duly impressed and bemused at the same time. Rich then proceeds to tell me that the improvised rig actually worked like a
spinnaker and the little skiff was surfing down the river. For some reason the scene from Papillion were Steve McQueen is sailing the broken down open boat off
Honduras came to mind, really made my day.
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