Thursday, August 16, 2018

Sea Rat from Wind In The Willows

I thought the Skipper was Water Rat and I was Mole, but I think she is actually Water Rat's sibling Sea Rat, from the book Wind in the Willows. Here is a little musing from Sea Rat, speaking on looking to the sea:

"There, sooner or later, the ships of all seafaring nations arrive; and there, at its destined hour, the ship of my choice will let go its anchor. I shall take my time, I shall tarry and bide, till at last the right one lies waiting for me, warped out into midstream, loaded low, her bowsprit pointing down harbour. I shall slip on board, by boat or along hawser; and then one morning I shall wake to the song and tramp of the sailors, the clink of the capstan, and the rattle of the anchor-chain coming merrily in. We shall break out the jib and the foresail, the white houses on the harbour side will glide slowly past us as she gathers steering-way, and the voyage will have begun! As she forges towards the headland she will clothe herself with canvas; and then, once outside, the sounding slap of great green seas as she heels to the wind, pointing South!

And you, you will come too, young brother; for the days pass, and never return, and the South still waits for you. Take the Adventure, heed the call, now ere the irrevocable moment passes! 'Tis but a banging of the door behind you, a blithesome step forward, and you are out of the old life and into the new! Then some day, some day long hence, jog home here if you will, when the cup has been drained and the play has been played, and sit down by your quiet river with a store of goodly memories for company. You can easily overtake me on the road, for you are young, and I am aging and go softly. I will linger, and look back; and at last I will surely see you coming, eager and light- hearted, with all the South in your face!"

Wind In The Willows, Grahame, 1908

2 comments:

  1. Hi Clark-
    I found this blog from the story about Barbashela in the Jamestown Distributors catalogue and I've enjoyed reading backwards through your posts. You have some beautiful boats and apparently spend most of your time fixing and maintaining them. Good for you.
    I built a Sailfish kit boat in 1960 when I was 16, and now have a Sunfish, a 16ft wooden outboard skiff, a 1970 O'Day DaySailer, and a 1979 Proline 21ft cuddy cabin, so I also spend a lot of enjoyable time fixing up old small boats. I live in Wareham, MA on Buzzards Bay which happens to be the home of Cape Cod Shipbuilding, current builder of DaySailers, so parts are easy to come by.
    My boats are now all outside under tarps and snow so I'm envious of your year-round boating!

    Best wishes,
    Colin Canham

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    Replies
    1. Hi Colin,
      Sounds like we must be Cousins, thanks for the compliment on the Skipper's boats. Sailfish, check. Sunfish, check. 15 foot wooden outboard, check. 1970 Daysailer, Check. You need to pick up a Drascombe and we need to pick up a Proline 21. Our Daysailer hull is also a 1970, Hull 4624 I believe, can you peek under your tarp and see what you have?

      We'd love to hear about what you are fixing up, especially in August when we are hiding indoors form the 116 degree heat soup outside. The only way we get out on those days is Sunrise or maybe a sunset cruise in WILLOW. That area you live in sounds amazing, especially SUmmer time. Wendy and the folks at CCSC have been very helpful with questions about our CYANE. The Daysailer is a classic, a racehorse when you want and picnic boat on other days.

      You might have noticed that you can sign up to Follow us by email on the right sidebar, and if you use facebook we have a page there as well, Small Boat Restoration. Let us know what you're fixin/sailin.

      Cheers
      Clark and Skipper

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