Or,
sometimes ya just know …
You have to understand, she wasn't much of a boat. She ws an old Irwin, 25' long and only 8' wide -- a tippy cup of a boat. There was only about 4 square inches where I could stand up in the cabin without stooping. She had no water tank, no shore power, no lights inside, and only a porta-potty (the ice chest was good, though). If it was 85º outside, it was 110º in the cabin (really. I put a thermometer in there.) But she was seaworthy, a great starter boat,and very cheap, and she was fast for her size. I got her up to 6.5 knots twice -- once through sheer dumb luck, and later, after I had learned more, on purpose. She was my first boat and the start of living a dream that had been in the back of my head since I had been ten and first saw a sail boat in real life. She was ... mine.
I’m a
singer, and the song below is one of my favorite songs. One day shortly after I bought my little Irwin, I was driving down the
road, blasting along with Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water. I got to the third verse:
Sail on, Silver Girl – sail on by!
Your time has come to shine,
All your dreams are on their way!
See how they shine …
If you need a friend,
I’m sailing right behind!
Like a bridge over troubled water,
Like a bridge over troubled water,
I will ease your mind Like a bridge over troubled water,
I will ease your mind -- I will ease
your mind!
When I
stopped crying, I knew I had the name for my boat.
First in my heart forever, my beloved "Silver girl."
Ah... That freeing sensation you get from having your own boat. Yes, it may not be as luxurious as those yachts or ships, with its Charlie Noble and all, owned by billionaires, but your "Silver Girl" sounds like a great companion at sea. What matters is if it can take you offshore and back without malfunctioning. I got to give it to you, Captain Susan, for keeping a boat that is worthy of a salute.
ReplyDeleteAli Gurun @SanMartugBoat.com
Thanks for the kind words. It is very freeing to have my own boat and to be able to go out whenever I want. Silver Girl, it turned out, was at the tail end of her life when I got her, and it was very sad to see her go. I sold her to a friend for salvage because she was unsafe (deck separating from hull badly enough to compromise the mast!) I came home one night to find they had removed the mast, and I cried. But I love the boat I have now.
ReplyDelete