Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Nautical Musings 2
    Nautical Musings 2
    Nautical Musings 2
    Ebook130 pages1 hour

    Nautical Musings 2

    By James Keen

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Finding and buying a suitable sailing vessel was an adventure, followed by years spent learning to care for and handle the boat. Learning to appreciate that boat, the sea, and fragile North Carolina coastline filled my spare moments.
    In early 1993, my buddy Ramon (Ray) Atkins and I found, and Ray purchased Irish Mist, a tired but sturdy 1964 Pearson Vanguard 32-foot sailboat. For three wonderful years, our combined families restored and learned to sail our boat. I became the new owner of Irish Mist as Ray advanced to a Heritage West Indies 38-foot sailboat named Mariah.
    In October, 1993, I began to write a weekly sailing adventure column in our local daily newspaper, The Daily Southerner in Tarboro, North Carolina. Chronicled in over 186 weekly columns, I related the increasingly adventurous forays into the nautical world as we become sailors.
    Welcome aboard, as I present 40 of those original articles.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJames Keen
    Release dateJun 11, 2012
    ISBN9781476446509
    Nautical Musings 2
    Author

    James Keen

    Circumnavigations of Sir Francis Charles Chichester and Joshua Slocum have always fascinated me. As a young adult, I followed the circumnavigation of 16-year-old Robin Lee Graham in his 22-foot sailing sloop. His book, Dove, tells the story of finding maturity and a seafaring wife. I restored and sailed a wooden 21-foot Lightning Class sailboat, owned small runabouts, leased crewed and bareboat sailing yachts, and restored and sailed a classic 32-foot Vanguard sailboat, Irish Mist. I have extensive experience sailing rivers and sounds of eastern N.C. However, an ocean sailing crossing had eluded me. After college, I became a Certified Public Accountant, practiced with a large national firm, and then ran my own CPA firm. I worked in a commercial construction firm, then owned and operated a construction company in which I built several McDonalds and other fast food restaurants. In the 1980s, I closed my construction company, obtained a Masters in Community College Education degree, and taught accounting, auditing, taxes, and computer subjects at a local community college. After 15 years of teaching, I took an early retirement and settled into a waterfront retirement community near Chocowinity, NC. After crossing the Atlantic (Trinidad Express), I sailed Irish Mist on a 13-month, singlehanded circumnavigation of the eastern US, a trip known as America's Great Loop.

    Read more from James Keen

    Related to Nautical Musings 2

    Related ebooks

    Travel For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Finding Peace

      Jun 12, 2018

      Finding Peace
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Voyage Of A Lifetime

      Sep 13, 2022

      The Voyage Of A Lifetime
      4 min read

    • Article

      Across The North Sea

      Mar 13, 2018

      Across The North Sea
      11 min read

    • Article

      Adventure becoming Sea Gypsies

      Jun 23, 2022

      Adventure becoming Sea Gypsies
      6 min read

    • Article

      Slow Boat TO PANAMA

      Feb 1, 2020

      Slow Boat TO PANAMA
      6 min read

    • Article

      Midlife Knocking

      Oct 20, 2020

      Midlife Knocking
      7 min read

    • Article

      M.v. Pretty Girl

      Jul 9, 2018

      M.v. Pretty Girl
      3 min read

    • Article

      Poseidon’s Playground

      Nov 28, 2021

      Poseidon’s Playground
      6 min read

    • Article

      Where The Boats Are

      Feb 14, 2023

      Where The Boats Are
      10 min read

    • Article

      These Are The Best Days Of Your Life

      Oct 4, 2023

      THEY tell me I’ve had the second-best day of my life. It fell on a calm day last November when I fulfilled a long-held desire to become the owner of a yacht, a Westerly 33 ketch built in 1978, a venerable dame of the seas called Emma Kay. As to when

      2 min read

    • Article

      Riding The Waves Of Change

      May 26, 2022

      Mike Hopkins, 64, began sailing in 2009. He plans to sail solo around Britain next summer Beached, stranded and desolate in Abergele. With a stick in hand, I shouted and screamed her name as I carved ‘Mum’ into the sand, which was moist with tears an

      4 min read

    • Article

      Offshore In An Open Boat

      Nov 21, 2019

      Offshore In An Open Boat
      4 min read

    • Article

      Family Ties

      Sep 12, 2023

      My wife Karen’s family is filled with die-hard Mets fans. From the time I started dating Karen and began attending family functions, the guys could be found in the backyard congregating around the cooler or grill and gossiping about impending trades,

      3 min read

    • Article

      Mamma Mea!

      Sep 23, 2022

      Mamma Mea!
      6 min read

    • Article

      Mamma Mea!

      Sep 23, 2022

      Mamma Mea!
      6 min read

    • Article

      Peace in Greece

      Dec 9, 2022

      Peace in Greece
      8 min read

    • Article

      A Life Well Sailed

      Sep 10, 2020

      A Life Well Sailed
      5 min read

    • Article

      The elusive Azores

      Sep 16, 2021

      The elusive Azores
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Great Schooner Race

      Nov 13, 2018

      The Great Schooner Race
      5 min read

    • Article

      World Of This Out

      Dec 11, 2018

      World Of This Out
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Boys Are Back In Town!

      May 27, 2022

      The Boys Are Back In Town!
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Challenge For My Son

      Apr 29, 2021

      I had recently retired, wanted an adventure and to develop my sailing experience. I had skippered yachts many times in the UK, sailed to France and the Channel Islands, chartered in the Mediterranean and helped deliver a yacht from Mallorca to Naples

      3 min read

    • Article

      Operation Vacation!

      Sep 5, 2017

      Operation Vacation!
      6 min read

    • Article

      Seasons Of The Striper

      Sep 27, 2022

      Seasons Of The Striper
      8 min read

    • Article

      Passing It On

      Oct 4, 2022

      Passing It On
      8 min read

    • Article

      Our Boats

      Sep 7, 2023

      Our Boats
      6 min read

    • Article

      Pushing The Comfort Zone

      Feb 13, 2024

      Pushing The Comfort Zone
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Reluctant Sailor

      Feb 23, 2024

      The Reluctant Sailor
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Nautical Musings 2

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Nautical Musings 2 - James Keen

      Preface

      Finding and buying a suitable sailing vessel was an adventure, followed by years spent learning to care for and handle the boat. Learning to appreciate that boat, the sea, and fragile North Carolina coastline filled my spare moments.

      In early 1993, my buddy Ramon (Ray) Atkins and I found, and Ray purchased Irish Mist, a tired but sturdy 1964 Pearson Vanguard 32-foot sailboat. For three wonderful years, our combined families restored and learned to sail our boat. I became the new owner of Irish Mist as Ray advanced to a Heritage West Indies 38-foot sailboat named Mariah.

      In October, 1993, I began to write a weekly sailing adventure column in our local daily newspaper, The Daily Southerner in Tarboro, North Carolina. Chronicled in over 186 weekly columns, I related the increasingly adventurous forays into the nautical world as we become sailors.

      Welcome aboard, as I present 40 of those original articles.

      Acknowledgements

      Friends, family, and total strangers played major roles in stories presented in this anthology. I have tried to remember the major players in my stories; however, please accept my apologies and thanks if I have failed to remember you.

      Thanks to the following for your participation in adventures of the Irish Mist.

      My wife Jackie, and children David and Dianne Keen and dog, Tuffey.

      My sailing buddy, Ramon, wife Donna, and family Jone, and Randy Atkins.

      My parents, Chester and Ilamae Keen.

      My brother Jerry, wife Dorothy, and family Shannon, and Kelly Keen.

      My sister Judy, husband Jim, and family Beth, and Erin Farmer.

      Coworkers who shared sailing adventures, Giles Dail, Bert Herring, and Bill Gural.

      Minnesotte Beach Yacht Basin: Doc, Judy, Laura, and Mark, owners.

      Swan Point Marina: Jim and Bobbie Dunn, owners; Ricky Duck, and Pete.

      A Love of Things Nautical

      I can't remember when my love for the sea began.

      Maybe growing up while taking frequent weekend trips to our beach cottage influenced my young mind. Maybe it began during long winter armchair sessions with nautical adventure writers like Eric Hiscock, Tristan Jones, and Herb Payson.

      Regardless, the final result is a life-long recreational pursuit of things nautical.

      My fascination may be learning about the many facets of the sea: the diversity of the nautical experience. Fishing, boating, SCUBA diving, shelling, skiing, and just watching are acceptable ways of messing about on water. I've done them all.

      Some fifteen years ago, as a resident of Sanford, NC, my family was befriended by Ramon and Donna Atkins and their three children. Our friendship began and matured with church outings while a true respect and love for each other ripened as we shared the problems of raising a family.

      Fishing trips to the beach cottage, tubing in mountain streams, and learning to SCUBA dive were some of the experiences shared by our combined families. Teaching our families about the nuances of the wind, the flutter of the jib, and the brilliant color of submerged coral has been a great source of enjoyment.

      Ten years later, with the children married or off at college, Ray, Donna, my wife Jackie, and myself embarked on a new nautical adventure. Our goal was to buy a sailboat, perfect the skills required to sail and care for the boat and gain the experience necessary for the day when we would sail off to a tropical sailing retirement.

      Our middle-aged foursome failed to comprehend the scope of this undertaking.

      After several years of dock walking and annual trips to the Annapolis Boat Show, we gained the necessary experience to buy the boat that would fit our needs. We located a 26 year-old, 32-foot Pearson Vanguard sloop and quickly made the purchase.

      Irish Mist was a classic offshore boat of unquestioned strength, rough in appearance and in need of much tender loving care. Skinned knuckles from scrapping paint, dust in our eyes from sanding teak trim, and varnish stains on our clothes, were signs of our labor in putting her in like-new condition. Completing the renovation chore, It was finally time to go sailing.

      Coastal North Carolina trips to Cape Lookout, day sailing on the Neuse River and Pamlico Sound. and lazy weekends at anchor in a cozy cove all added to our sailing knowledge and experience. We battled storms under reefed mainsail, reset dragging anchors in the dark of the night, and marveled at the silver glow of the harvest moon over the open ocean. We even attempted a 600-mile offshore sail to the Abacos, Bahamas, although it didn't turn out the way we had originally planned.

      Sailing has taught us self reliance, confidence in our abilities, and trust in our sailing companions. We gained an appreciation for the beauty and power of the sea. Our friendship with the Atkins has made association with the sea more enjoyable as confidence, love, and trust grew between us.

      Even though I can't remember when my love for the sea began, I have finally matured enough to remember and really appreciate the ultimate benefit of getting wet―the sharing of the experience with friends and family.

      (The Daily Southerner, Tarboro, NC, October 13, 1993)

      Learning About Things Nautical

      Visiting the Annapolis Boat Show

      It's always a long day when we go to the sailboat show in Annapolis, Maryland. We get up about five a.m., have breakfast on the road, arriving about eleven a.m., returning home around midnight. Ray Atkins drives his van while Donna, Jackie and myself lounge in comfort. On days when the U.S. Naval Academy is having a home game, we get caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic and its an even longer day.

      Last weekend was the 24th annual sailboat show in Annapolis. Of course, we went and it was the day of the Air Force/Navy football game. We were spared most of the heavy traffic as we got into Annapolis well before the 1:30 p.m. kickoff. Easily finding the boat show parking lot at an elementary school, we rode the 10 minute shuttle school bus to the waterfront.

      Billed as the largest in-water boat show in the world, it certainly lives up to that reputation. The show overwhelms the town, or at least the waterfront section. Several hundred boats line the temporary docks that allow easy access for the throng. Large tents housing equipment vendor exhibits are surrounded by more equipment and small boat displays that completely engulf the parking area, leaving little room for people and certainly no room for cars. Smoke from restaurant grills carry scrumptious food smells as it wafts over the crowd.

      The attraction, of course, is to show new boats to perspective buyers. In reality, people from all walks of life pay their entrance fee enabling them to board boats that only dreams would normally let them board. Back home in the marina, only a select few are allowed to board such lush palaces. Walking shinny white decks, touching exotic wood veneer walls, and examining the latest electronic gadgets are pleasures available simply by waiting your turn in line to remove your shoes and board the boat of your dreams.

      Fat and skinny, short and tall, young and old is the crowd, different in every way except for the vision of far off tropical paradise in their eyes. The crowd speaks many languages, proof of longer travel to get there than our five and one-half hour trip, a trip commonplace among many America visitors. Most people are dressed in relaxed nautical wear, especially the required deck shoes. One lady, however, stood out in the crowd wearing her huge round floppy hat, jeans as tight as paint, and FOUR INCH heels. Children scampered about testing the patience of harried salespersons charged with the safety of expensive boats.

      Celebrities are common at the show. While on board a boat one year, I stood mutely in the galley as Walter Cronkite was led past on a private tour. I met, another year, my favorite nautical adventure author, Tristain Jones. I shook hands, year before last, with author Herb Payson on board a Pacific Seacraft as he pointed out the features contained on his own Red Shoes, a boat of the same model. This year, I talked about the virtues of a wind generator with BOC Challenge round-the-world racer Michael Carr, Captain of the 60 foot, 70% recycled aluminum boat Imagine, as he graced the manufacturer's booth.

      Comments from the crowd can be entertaining. Ray reported talking with one man who likened sailing with taking a cold shower while tearing up hundred dollar bills. A bored mother attempted to entertain her bored toddler by saying see the pretty boat, as she stoically

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1