[Capri25] Fw: Stuart "Doug" Paine - the rest of the story

Tue Oct 1 11:04:22 CDT 2019

For those that saw Doug's presentation earlier this summer, below is the rest of the story. Enjoy!
-Hermann

________________________________
From: Stuart Paine <stuart.paine at icloud.com>
Sent: Monday, September 30, 2019 9:09 AM
To: Hermann Klaas <hermannklaas at hotmail.com>
Subject: Capri 25 Webpage email link to you

Hello dear friends WYC. I first want to give you a belated thank you for the kindness and hospitality you extended to me when I gave my talk last June. As you may recall I was on my way to sail the New England Coast. I wanted to give you a brief follow up on how that event played out.

After leaving WYC and visiting my wife’s family in and around St. Cloud, I headed to New Hampshire to the property where my father was raised (now owned by a cousin). The property is on a tidal river that has 6 ft. of water when the tide is in, and three feet when the tide is out (except for one 4 ft hole by the dock). After some launching difficulties (shallow ramp, shallow water, broken trailer wheel, you know the deal) I ended up having the local yard launch the boat. Then the decision had to be made as to whether to go back up river to get the boat to the dock at my father’s homestead, or do the smart thing and proceed down river to the open ocean. Intelligence never being my long suit, I chose to get the boat to the family dock as it just seemed the right thing to do. The next day at the end of the flood tide my cousin and I (she knows the very shifty, unmarked channel) and we headed up river. We only grounded twice (in nice soft mud) which we were pretty proud about and got to the dock at slack water. We carefully placed the keel over the deep spot and crossed our fingers with respect to the coming ebb. She stuck in the mud at low tide, but not badly.

Once the boat was secured the most unexpected event happened. I started up the ramp to the shore and just started crying, really hard. It was totally unexpected, but wracking sobs engulfed me. My father was an extraordinary man. He was on the second Byrd expedition to the Antarctic, set foot on land never before seen bay any human (read the book ‘Footsteps on the Ice” for an understanding of his time there) and traveled by dog sled 1300 miles in the Antarctic. My boat is named after his lead dog, Jack the Giant Killer.  But he died when I was only 7, and he has remained as an unresolved relationship for me for all of my life. Absent a father to show me the way to manhood (in ‘Harry met Sally’ there is the quote that you are not a man until your father tells you you are) there is always the doubt about whether my father would approve of me, would validate who I had become, how I had chosen to live. In that moment, at his homestead, I became aware of his approval, and I realized I sail to be close to him. My adventures are trivial when held up to his, but it is that spirit of adventure that motivates me to have sailing adventures and they bind me to him. It was the damnedest moment and the most profound of realizations. I felt he would have felt towards me how I feel towards my sons with all the love and pride that goes along with that. If the trip had ended then and there it would have been more than worth the effort to make it happen. Perhaps it was the real reason I came.

Jack at the dock at my father’s homestead

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The next day I headed down river with the intent of getting to the Isle of Shoals, a set of three islands off the Portsmith shore about 6 miles. Despite fears of being swept into one of the three bridges by a 6 knot tide, it ended up being a delightful sailing day and a good start to the trip. I will not do a daily log from here on out, but I will hit the highlights. From the Isle for Shoals I headed north with the exception of getting completely up the Maine coast. That did not happen, For the first half of the trip I ended up with engine trouble that required me to put into ports I had not expected to visit (as it turned out a gasket I installed for a fuel connection disintegrated into little pieces clogging the jet). Not all bad as I was in some really charming towns. I did want to be certain to visit Camden Maine as it is a mecca for wooden boats, so it became my first “have to get there’ port. Three days later I am heading up to Camden bucking a 4.5 knot tide, making .5 knots toward Camden when I decide to hide and wait for the tide to turn. A small harbor (Whitehead Harbor) was close by on the lee of an island and seemed a good spot to lay over. I rounded the end of the island leaving the green marker on port, lined up the next green marker and happily motored along ….. until at 5 knots i hit a rock, and the boat stopped sending me flying through the cockpit into the cabin. I bruised a rib, badly cut my ankle, and jammed my shoulder against the compression post. I also (and I have no idea how) managed to launch a portable speaker into my chart plotter (breaking the glass) and switching off the battery switch. I got Jack really inexpensively because she was sailed into a cement ramp in San Diego at 6 knots during a race which resulted in the keel being pushed up into the boat. I removed the keel and cut a 6’ by 4’ hole in the bottom and built up a new keel support structure. So when I collected myself I was really interested to see if the heavily rebuilt bottom structure had survived the hit. It did. There were no cracks in the liner or hull and no ingress of water. So, guess I keep sailing!  I got to the harbor and anchored next to a local lobster boat. The skipper came on deck and said he had watched me hit. Said a lot of people hit that rock because it is right in the marked channel.  Said they had been talking about putting a bouy on the rock for years. May get to it some day. I doubt they will because If they do it will deny the locals of what I am sure is their major summer entertainment.

The keel after the rock

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I made it to Camden the next day, and was given a float right downtown, about 400 ft. from the town dock. Camden is a charming town, small enough to be intimate and active enough to be interesting. The yacht club is most welcoming. And the boats are amazing. Gaff schooners abound. Beautiful  traditional wooden boats surround you. It really is a piece of boating heaven.

Camden harbor from my float

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I sailed from there to the small town of Castile, another charming town with another very small and welcoming yacht club.  I sailed into the town in the midst of an intense thunder storm which passed through soon after leaving a flat calm, light fog, and a beautiful view.The dock master is a history teacher and he encouraged me (made it clear that I was expected to) spend the following day hiking the surrounding area to see the historical sites. The town is a delight to explore. It is the site of the second worst nautical defeat of the US Navy!

I left after two days, and sailed into the finest sailing day of my life. It started with the sunrise below at 5 am on an ebb tide which favored me. The wind was a steady 8 on a reach, so the sailing was easy and fast enough to be quite satisfying. I had been told by multiple people that I needed to sail the Eggemoggin Reach, a channel between two islands and the home of the Wooden Boat School. All day, every channel I took had a favorable wind shift. When I had to beat  I could just barely point high enough to round the navigation mark, When I rounded a point the wind would shift so as to allow me to sail down the channel on a reach with a wind speed of between 8 and 12 knots. Just sailing heaven. I stopped at the Wooden Boat School with the intention of anchoring overnight in the cove there, but it was only noon so I decided to sail back to Camden. Again the wind favored every course I was required to take. I shot a channel between two islands that was not wider than 18 ft with not problem to emerge sandwiched between two 70’ two masted gaff rigged schooners heading to Camden as well. I found it fun that my little 25 could out point and head reach on them, but we stayed in company for two hours or so until we got back to Camden. I was able to get my previous float, and was in by 8 pm. A perfect sailing day.

Dock in Castile at 5 am

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Some demands from home, and the fact that I was a bit bruised and battered from the rock incident led me to decide to head home a bit sooner than I had planned. I hauled two days later and drove back home. I love cruising New England. I am going back as soon as I am able. If I retire in the next two years I and spending a summer there for certain. Wonderful people, beauty in abundance, the choice fo solitude or civilization within easy reach; it is all there.

The keel is now regained its original shape and no other damage was done to the hull or keel area. The repaired chart plotter was installed yesterday. Jack and I are ready to go. I think Catalina next week ( I have some time off), and Lake Tahoe for a short adventure this summer. Then back to New England summer after next. Perhaps I could come by and beg a ride on race day. I would look forward to that.

Doug Paine
Capri 25 - Jack
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