# Hullo There. Dad Gave Me A Boat.



## Erindipity (Nov 29, 2014)

This may take a while. Maybe a few years...
We came over on the "Queen Mary" on that disastrous passage where the new Stabilizing System just made everything worse. I had a great time.
We settled on Staten Island, (A block away from Sailor's Snug...), from where Dad took the Ferry every day to the American center of Marine Insurance. (It's wasn't Philadelphia, and it hadn't been for a long time.)

I grew up knowing very little about Boats. For Dad, that was Work, and he didn't discuss Work.
So when I was nine, I was building a Soapbox Derby, and I was having a horrible time with the front suspension, what there was of it, other than scrap lumber, the wheels from a Radio Flyer, and nails. The other Cub Scouts got entirely too much help from their Dads.
I was supposed to figure this out for myself.

Dad practically never called me from Work, so when in the middle of bent nails and splinters, I got called to the phone: "I've got a Boat for you."
Well now, Boats... Very Grown Up.
I went through his Library and proceeded to learn too much about Boats for a Nine Year Old Cub Scout, at that time, in that short time. I devoured Chapman's.

But there was the nagging question! How would he bring the Boat home? They seemed rather big, far too big to be carried on one's back on the Staten Island Ferry.
I was bursting with speculation. When he finally made it home, he handed me the little brown bag, and said: "Here is the Boat."
it was narrow in beam, maybe 3/8 of an inch. With the Boat was a selection of washers and a couple of nuts so that the Beam Axle of my Soapbox would pivot without tearing it apart.
The following weekend, I entered the Derby, on Livingston Court, where there was sufficient grade.
The Doctor assured my Parents that no real harm was done that a week or so confined to Bed wouldn't cure. This was very boring, so Dad gave me some Books to while away the time.
"Swallows And Amazons".
"The Wind In the Willows".
"High Wind in Jamaica".
And one that I can't find any longer- It was an Irish novel about a young boy, his Aunt, and his Curragh. There were Bacon Sandwiches involved.

A couple of months later, we moved to San Francisco, and shortly after that to a rural region Eastward, miles from the Sea.
For my Birthday, instead of the annual visit to the Automat, my Dad took me to the house of a Business Friend, and I found this really boring, until I was dispatched to the Garage to look at my Present- another Bolt. An old wooden El Toro, well equipped, although now out of Class, so it was cheap, and yet another Book: "Beery's Basic Sailing."

Dad Gave Me A Boat.

My youngest Sister named the Boat: "El Moo-Cow". She was and is inordinately fond of Cows.

Erindipity


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## jerryrlitton (Oct 14, 2002)

Will there be a part two?


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## Don L (Aug 8, 2008)

my meds might be wrong, but are we talking a "matchbox boat"?


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## jerryrlitton (Oct 14, 2002)

Probably


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## DonScribner (Jan 9, 2011)

Erin,

In a more direct manor, let me congratulate you and welcome you to the family! The El Toro was s kit boat I believe; a nice little sailing dinghy; lots of fun and many chances to swim. I never sailed a dinghy but rather, started on a keel boat. The dinghy will teach you to tune your senses to the boat, become one with her. Whatever happens to one, happens to both. The slightest shift in wind will instantly become apparent at the helm. I'm guessing that you are girl, mid to late teens, but won't ask. (I'm a Dad) SO, be careful, make lots of sailing friends (and be careful) and sail you aft off. Take some courses, watch some videos, get certified so you know the COLREGS. There are rules out there that keep us afloat, alive and out of court.

Most important . . . DON'T date until you're MARRIED! (remember, I'm a Dad)

Don


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## CalebD (Jan 11, 2008)

Congrats on your El Toro!
EL TORO sailboat specifications and details on sailboatdata.com


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## newhaul (Feb 19, 2010)

The book involving bacon sandwiches may well have been fArley mowat's the dog who wouldn't be also congrats on the el toro and welcome aboard


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## Erindipity (Nov 29, 2014)

"Will there be a part two?"
I'm now working on Part Four, which brings me to the age of 13, and my ill-fated yearning for the West Wight Potter. I won't write about Parts Five through Ten, which takes place over 15 years, and hardly has any Boats in it at all. That would take us to ~1984.
Part 11 involves a Girl and a Boat. Girls and other ill-fated yearnings had a lot to do with parts Five through Ten.


"my meds might be wrong, but are we talking a "matchbox boat"?"
We're gonna need a bigger Matchbox... I still have problems distinguishing between Boats and Bolts in conversation.
El Toros were, for many years, _the_ training boat for US West Coast kids. It was a variation on the Sabot pram concept, and over 11,000 were built. I have Class-Measured Hull #417. (Yes, I still have it. Or rather most of it. That last bit should take us to Chapter 15 or 16.)
Adults were just beginning to ruin El Toros with their Fiberglass and their changes to Class Rules around 1966, so the old Wooden ones were going for cheap.
El Toros are not cheap now; newer ones run into the thou$ands, and anybody over the age of 12 or so still looks very silly sailing one, and even sillier hauling one down to water Hermit-Crab style.


"The book involving bacon sandwiches may well have been fArley mowat's the dog who wouldn't be also congrats on the el toro and welcome aboard"
I've read pretty much everything Mowat wrote; he's quite right about that technique of marking Territory to keep animals away. (Lots of Tea, then lots of Pee.)
I seem to dimly remember that the book in question was written around 1900; maybe a bit before, and that the Author was a Woman. It took place in and around Galway, and had trips to the Aran Islands, some intentional.


"... I'm guessing that you are girl, mid to late teens, but won't ask..."
The Internet is rife with rumors of Old Men pretending to be a Teenage Girl online. This is maybe the first time that it has been gotten to be taken the other way around. This could get _very_ weird.
"...get certified so you know the COLREGS..."
I have an autographed copy of the 1972 First Edition. My Dad was one of the Editors. It has lots of notes in the margins in fine penciled script, involving changes for the Second Edition.
"Most important . . . DON'T date until you're MARRIED! (remember, I'm a Dad)"
Yup. That's covered in Parts Five through Ten.

Well, time for my second pint of tea, and my second pint of...

Erindipity


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## bblument (Oct 22, 2012)

Erindipity said:


> This may take a while. Maybe a few years...
> We came over on the "Queen Mary" on that disastrous passage where the new Stabilizing System just made everything worse. I had a great time.
> We settled on Staten Island, (A block away from Sailor's Snug...), from where Dad took the Ferry every day to the American center of Marine Insurance. (It's wasn't Philadelphia, and it hadn't been for a long time.)
> 
> ...


Erindipity,

Welcome. I've got to confess that I'm sitting here smiling and shaking my head in wonder because your post has given me a Berry Vig Headache. The writing style is faintly reminiscent of A. A. Milne, but perchance under the influence of some very exotic chemical enhancement (Milne, not you). The great Inner Meaning surfaces not for me, but that would be my Great Loss. I really DID like it. I just don't get it. This is the SECOND post I haven't really understood in the past week, but this one is a LOT more fun than the other one was. I'm sure it'll have a much a happier ending, too.

Time for another pint, referencing your most recent post in this thread. Perchance, that will take me a step further towards Partial Illumination.

All my best,

Barry


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## newhaul (Feb 19, 2010)

FYI all the op is now a retired nuke engineer with a beneteau first 29


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## Erindipity (Nov 29, 2014)

"The writing style is faintly reminiscent of A. A. Milne,..."
This is actually significant. I've been working on my "voices" for a few decades now; I'm pretty good with my Steinbeck, Belloc, and Wodehouse, but Dylan Thomas and Seuss keep popping in to remind me about allusions and alliteration when I get too literal.
Milne... I hadn't thought of doing Milne. Maybe I should have monikered with "Winnie The Poop", or "Winnie Ille Puppis" in the original Latin. ("Puppis" meaning the Stern of a Ship.)
("Winnie" comes from Winnipeg, a Cree word meaning "Dirty Water". Milne, like Carroll, enjoyed making obscure puns that takes years to figure out. Also, Milne, like Carroll, was a professional Mathematician.)


"I just don't get it."
I can be, and no doubt will be, very literal, technical, and boring on certain subjects. I'm something of an expert on populating Plasmas with High Charge State Heavy Ions and all manners of Cyclotron Resonances. I also know some obscure areas of Electronics, having invented them.
(It's quite unlikely that I shall dwell on these matters unless pressed.)

Thank you, Barry. I knew that I could have fun here.

Erindipity

(Erin being Ireland of course; Serendip was another island, but fictional. Serendipity is a fortuitous series of events that lead to a pleasant outcome, coined by Walpole. BTW, there is another hidden Family meaning to Erindipity that I just may divulge at some appropriate time.)


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## Erindipity (Nov 29, 2014)

"FYI all the op is now a retired nuke engineer with a beneteau first 29"

Not technically true- I was more on the Experimental Physics side, although I did some Engineering off the cuff.
I also fixed stereos, and I know my way around older Colombo V12s. I'm a fair Machinist, especially on one-off Cryogenic stuff.
I'm absolute rubbish behind a desk passing paperwork around. A man's GOT to know his limitations.

The Beneteau bit is true enough- it's the one with the Lifting Keel and twin Rudders. I had a Contest before that, and a Coronado before that. 

Erindipity


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## manatee (Feb 27, 2013)

Erindipity said:


> [snip]
> 
> (Erin being Ireland of course; *Serendip was another island, but fictional.* Serendipity is a fortuitous series of events that lead to a pleasant outcome, coined by Walpole. BTW, there is another hidden Family meaning to Erindipity that I just may divulge at some appropriate time.)


 Welcome!

Not so fictional:: Home of the great Arthur C. Clarke; "The View From Serendip" is a collection of his essays & memoirs.

Encyclopædia Britannica::

'Serendib

Alternate titles: Sarandīb; Serendip

Serendib, also spelled Serendip,Arabic Sarandīb, name for the island of Sri Lanka (Ceylon). The name, Arabic in origin, was recorded in use at least as early as AD 361 and for a time gained considerable currency in the West. It is best known to speakers of English through the word serendipity, invented in the 18th century by the English man of letters Horace Walpole on the inspiration of a Persian fairy tale, "The Three Princes of Serendip," whose heroes often made discoveries by chance.'


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## DonScribner (Jan 9, 2011)

Ahh, a ruse. I get it. I though the story a bit prosaic, mosaic or psychotropic. I began to flash back for a moment.


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## drosymor (Aug 6, 2014)

Your 'voices' are, to say the least of it, eclectic. From the bleakness of Steinbeck to the whimsy of Wodehouse. Dylan Thomas' work has a particular Welshness to it, reminiscent of the narrative poetry of the eisdeddfod bardic traditions.

I am not sure about a. a. milne but I did appreciate the humerous tone. I found it be delightful tongue in cheek view of the world; Moliere perhaps.

Erin go brach


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## Erindipity (Nov 29, 2014)

drosymor said:


> Your 'voices' are, to say the least of it, eclectic. From the bleakness of Steinbeck to the whimsy of Wodehouse. Dylan Thomas' work has a particular Welshness to it, reminiscent of the narrative poetry of the eisdeddfod bardic traditions.
> 
> I am not sure about a. a. milne but I did appreciate the humerous tone. I found it be delightful tongue in cheek view of the world; Moliere perhaps.
> 
> Erin go brach


I prefer the whimsy of Steinbeck. My Favorite is "Cannery Row" followed by "Sweet Thursday". I did not like "East Of Eden", and I hated "The Red Pony".
BTW, Steinbeck contributed a lot to Ricketts' "Between Pacific Tides", and he and Ricketts documented their research trips together in "The Sea Of Cortez" and the later "Log Of the Sea Of Cortez".
The two of them were fundamental influences on both my Scientific and Literary work.

Wodehouse is Wodehouse of course; when Wodehouse is in his Heaven, all is right with the World.

My favorite Poem of all time is Reed's "Naming Of Parts", as read by Thomas.

I alluded to "Winnie Ille Pu" earlier, the translation into Latin of that famous work.
For my God-Daughter's tenth Birthday, I gave her a copy, and she was delighted.
She's working on her PhD. in Comparative Latin, (There's more than one Latin...), and her Thesis is about the Influence of Ovid on the Earl Of Rochester, and the influence of both on later Victorian _thinking_ about Power, Politics, and Sexuality. It's got a lot of Semiotics in it.
She's a good, and funny, writer.

I don't know about Moliere and Milne; Milne was a gentle writer, and Moliere could be quite savage in his attacks on hypocrisy. I've only read Le Malade Imaginaire in the original French; everything else was in translation. Maybe I've been reading bad translations.
A better comparison with Milne might be de Saint-Exupéry and his "Le Petit Prince", although de Saint-Exupéry's writing always carried within it the certain sadness of inevitability.

Oh dear, I've rambled on again.

Erindipity


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## manatee (Feb 27, 2013)

Ramble on -- the voyage is interesting, even though we don't know the port for which we're bound.


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## CalebD (Jan 11, 2008)

In the St. Exupery line I liked "Wind, Sand and Stars" perhaps more than his princely novella. 
Given your connection to "Erin" wouldn't you have some thrall for J. Joyce or O. Wilde, or is that just too ethnocentric? Perhaps being comfortable in your own voice is really more important than a cultural identity though. I happen to be a big fan of the clarity of Isaac Assimov who writes equally well for the under 10 crowd as adults.

In any even having looked at your El Toro I can see where the idea came for the Optimist which is all the rage for the younger set these days.

What lies between the El Toro and the Bene 1st 29' may involve advanced subjects in physics as well as escapades and dalliances. I'll wait and see.


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## drosymor (Aug 6, 2014)

I am not a fan of Steinbeck, the works I read were depressing and totally lacking in any whimsy; vide Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden. They make Tennessee Williams look like a fun read. Whilst I agree with you the Moliere was adept at skewering hypocrites, He did have a light touch regarding the vagaries of the human condition and its relationships Maybe we should go to Restoration Comedy. I am sure I can compete with Mrs. Malaprop. 

Manatee, you got me started with Horace Walpole.


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## manatee (Feb 27, 2013)

I deny everything -- the OP mentioned him first.


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## Erindipity (Nov 29, 2014)

CalebD said:


> In the St. Exupery line I liked "Wind, Sand and Stars" perhaps more than his princely novella.
> Given your connection to "Erin" wouldn't you have some thrall for J. Joyce or O. Wilde, or is that just too ethnocentric? Perhaps being comfortable in your own voice is really more important than a cultural identity though. I happen to be a big fan of the clarity of Isaac Assimov who writes equally well for the under 10 crowd as adults.
> 
> In any even having looked at your El Toro I can see where the idea came for the Optimist which is all the rage for the younger set these days.
> ...


Joyce and Wilde were serious about fighting several battles that have been since won. There is still a huge fondness for Joyce among some people that I have known: "Three quarks for Muster Mark!"
Muster Mark is gulping down a couple of more _Quarks _these days.

Wilde is a little bit different, because his Satires contain _Elements _unknown to us these days. Who now has a Drawing Room?

Although I have only dabbled in Olde Mick Lit before, I'm now more interested in those Authors whose lives have at least overlapped mine at some point: Roddy Doyle, Donleavy, Binchy, Beckett, and Yeats. (Not W. B Yeats.... Jack Yeats, W. B.'s brother. Jack Yeats also won an Olympic Medal for Ireland in... Swimming.)

Beckett is a continual puzzle; like Jack Yeats he played around with Surrealism and Stolid Irish Literalism, which are pretty much the same, in the end.

I should note here that Jack liked to Sail, Samuel didn't. There is a huge irony here: Ireland's new 400' Navy ship launched a few months back is named after Samuel Beckett.

Erindipity


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## Erindipity (Nov 29, 2014)

manatee said:


> Ramble on -- the voyage is interesting, even though we don't know the port for which we're bound.


Any old Port in a Storm will suffice. If no Port, Sherry will do. If no Sherry, there's always Brandy. Brandy is a _fine _girl.
Now about Ramblings...
Actually, one of the things that I have wondered about since I was a Teen, when I was just learning about Force Vectors as they apply to the little thingies that drive Boats forward, those thingies that are concentrated on only a few points: the Forestay fittings, the Backstay fittings, the Traveller, and the Sheet Winches...

Why is it that given everything that we know about height-varying Wind Directions, height-varying Wind Pressure Gradients, and "Wind Spill" from inefficient control of Leeches... why do People still fly their Spinnakers _Upside Down?_

I've come up with a neat new concept: It's called "Yard Arms" Rigging it is trivial; think of it as two Spinnaker Poles joined together in the middle, at the _top _of the Mast, like two regular Arms joined through the Spine, with a continuous loop line controlling centering, and two outboard lines to control direction and angle. Then, hang the Spinnaker on it properly.

It's probably already patented...

Erindipity


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## manatee (Feb 27, 2013)

Erindipity said:


> Any old Port in a Storm will suffice. If no Port, Sherry will do. If no Sherry, there's always Brandy. Brandy is a _fine _girl.
> Now about Ramblings...
> Actually, one of the things that I have wondered about since I was a Teen, when I was just learning about Force Vectors as they apply to the little thingies that drive Boats forward, those thingies that are concentrated on only a few points: the Forestay fittings, the Backstay fittings, the Traveller, and the Sheet Winches...
> 
> ...


The Polynesians did it a few thousand years ago. They have a pretty good case for 'prior use', don't you think? 










*clicky::*


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## Erindipity (Nov 29, 2014)

manatee said:


> The Polynesians did it a few thousand years ago. They have a pretty good case for 'prior use', don't you think?


That there looks to me like an Upside Down Ketch...
Which brings me to Topsails:

Burgess doesn't make these things by mistake. Yet there it is, twice, in his "Kingdom Of the Wicked": Topsails on Roman Sailing ships.
As usual, his research is meticulous. He has the seasonal weather and descriptions of the Coastal Sailing just right. I looked these up. They were worth looking up.
But this book is a wonder of misdirection. The main character only appears briefly, and enigmatically, at the beginning.
Then there is that Perfect Paragraph. I can feel it; I can see how it came to be. One writes a Perfect Paragraph, and then writes a chapter, or even a book, to accommodate it. Maybe while on the Road To Damascus.
Burgess, Aldiss, and Amis all write on disparate things, but those things rarely matter in their books, because they really just want to share their love of our common language. Plots do sometimes so get in the way; it is often best to reuse a plot written by someone else, and just play with the words.
(This is something that probably none of you know: Martin Amis played John in the film adaptation of "A High Wind In Jamaica". This is not only my favorite, but the favorite of pretty much everybody who has been paying any attention at all, Pirate Story, because it isn't really about Pirates.)

So what's up with those damned Topsails? They had to wait for a few more centuries and a few more venturous Venetians to be invented.
Oh, I get it now. It isn't about Topsails at all- they were just tossed in to ensure that we continue to pay attention. Burgess can be a little cruel with his readers. Especially with this book.

I bought my copy of "Kingdom Of the Wicked" three decades back at a Garage sale, and I only got to reading it a couple of weeks ago. (I still feel guilty about not making it all the way through "Napoleon Symphony". I'm still not ready for "Napoleon Symphony".)
So I read the book. It's a pretty good read. And then I read it again, this time using the Internet for background.
Damn, that book was well researched, although there is less of Graves' Claudius then some might want, and far too much Caligula.
Of course there was far too much Caligula. That was rather the whole bloody point.

Anyway, here I am at the Nav Station of my very lovely little Beneteau, reading "Kingdom Of the Wicked" for the third time in as many weeks. It's raining, thank God. We do so need the rain.
I highly recommend Anthony Burgess and his "Kingdom Of the Wicked". It might be called "The Gospel According to Burgess", but that would be a little too glib.

Every once in a while, I glance up at a very lovely painting that I have on the Port main Bulkhead. It keeps me centered, and the Beneteau so needed it, listing a couple of degrees to Starboard anyway, as was its wont.
This is entirely another story; a story that is entirely Erinditipitous, and I will get to it eventually.

Coming up Real Soon Now: Part Two.
Remember- It is still 1966 and Dad had just given me a Boat, an El Toro, for my Tenth Birthday. El Toros don't normally have Topsails, but what the Hell, this particular El Toro may just have one anyway, just to to see if anybody is still paying attention.

Erindipity


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## CalebD (Jan 11, 2008)

" A small sailing craft is not only beautiful, it is seductive and full of strange promise and the hint of trouble." E.B. White

While he may not be contemporaneous with your life he is just over the horizon. 
A nice little ditty containing the above quote in the link below.
http://www.burytherail.com/snugglebuns/Wind that Blows.pdf


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## Erindipity (Nov 29, 2014)

CalebD said:


> " A small sailing craft is not only beautiful, it is seductive and full of strange promise and the hint of trouble." E.B. White
> 
> While he may not be contemporaneous with your life he is just over the horizon.
> A nice little ditty containing the above quote in the link below.


Ah... E. B. White...
My first Editor was a Fierce Old Biddy who handed me a copy of "Elements Of Style".
She said:

Read it.
Understand it.
Do it.
And then throw the damn thing out the window.

We got to be very good friends. Within a month, I was editing her Procedures, for which she was very grateful, because being a Fierce Old Biddy is hard work, when one knows the English Language very well, and when one knows just when Grammar and speeling rules may be broken, but when one hasn't a clue when it comes to Paschen Discharges, one was lost.

White gleefully broke every rule in the Book, when it suited him.

I wish that others here would look at the Link that CalebD provided; it is a really Good Read.

Is it too soon for Peter Heaton? Uffa Fox?
And well, this is embarrassing, William F. Buckley?
(We got a Christmas Card from him for several years, affectionally addressed to "You Bastard", that being my Dad.)

I know that my name-dropping is getting to be obnoxious, but I must say that my Dad had this knack of bringing the oddest people home for Dinner.

Erindipity


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## CalebD (Jan 11, 2008)

And for extra credit find one sentence that is either a type-O or in need of redacting.



CalebD said:


> " A small sailing craft is not only beautiful, it is seductive and full of strange promise and the hint of trouble." E.B. White
> 
> While he may not be contemporaneous with your life he is just over the horizon.
> A nice little ditty containing the above quote in the link below.
> http://www.burytherail.com/snugglebuns/Wind that Blows.pdf


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