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 Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums
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 My First Sailboat		  New Topic  Topic Locked
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Ben - FL
Admiral

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880 Posts
Initially Posted - 11/07/2005 :  09:08:01  Show Profile  Visit Ben - FL's Homepage
After 30 years of my believing all remnants of my very first sailboat were lost, my brother emailed me a picture. It is the only evidence of a lot of fond memories. I was nineteen years old when I bought it. It is a twenty-six feet and double ended, double planked mahogany, gaff rigged, no motor, with eight oarlocks but only five oars. I'm told it was a Navy life boat. The mains'l and working jib were cotton canvas, the mast Fir. It has an outboard rudder and a swing keel. When there was no wind I would sit on the center board trunk and row her with the twelve foot oars. It has a brass bilge pump mounted on the aft of the trunk which works with leather flap valves.

And yes, that is a hole below the gunwale. I took it out in 1976 with eleven other friends and a keg of beer for the WAPE RAMBL'N RAFT RACE After sailing all day in the hot sun with that keg and some other spirits we came into Mayport. The guy I had bought the boat from had the helm and I had the bow line. He never turned into the wind but sailed her on a run straight into the concrete dock throwing me onto it. I somehow managed to hold the boat until it headed up. I hauled her out of the water and she stayed too long and the planking became badly checked. She never was the same after that. I had her for three years. So I learned the hard way about wooden boats. It was to be twenty years before I bought my next, a C-22.
Safe voyages,
Ben
sloop Chick-a-pea,
C250wk#364
Edited by - on

Pokey uh da LBC
1st Mate

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35 Posts
Response Posted - 11/08/2005 :  11:55:00  Show Profile
Great story and cool looking old boat
Edited by - on
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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.