by John Lindsay

Created on: February 09, 2009   Last Updated: February 26, 2009

Sailing in the late afternoon on the Katy'.

He was told to wait on the bridge that spanned the river. He arrived early and watched two fishermen, one on the bridge and the other on the far bank try their luck with rods, reels and lines. The wind was strong; about 17 knots from the west. He expected the captain to call for at least one reef in the mainsail.

The first mate who invited him to sail, arrived on the river bridge from the west with the late afternoon sun behind him. They said their hellos and started walking towards the club. The mate apologized for the delay in arranging the afternoon sail. He said the captain/owner dithered over whether to sail that day. The mate said he is constantly ready to go sailing as soon as the bell sounds. "You are just the same I see", he said to the visitor.

They made a dash for the opening in the security gate and passed through it just as the barrier closed and then headed for the docks at a brisk pace.

They came to the Katy tied stern in at the dock. The mate was a veteran of many North Atlantic voyages.He looked sharply at the sailor sprawled in the cockpit with a bottle of beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. The Mate spoke to him with an edge in his voice. The boat did not belong to the mate but he was impatient with the sailor for not having the boat ready for sea, sails, boom and sheets rigged and ready.

The visitor stepped aboard and the mate congratulated him on his footwork to achieve the flat of the deck forward of the transom. The mate did not know if the visitor was an experienced sailor. He would find that out later.

The visitor went below in the tiny cabin to change into his sea clothes. The mate left the boat and the dock and said he would return in few minutes. The captain arrived shortly after the mate left and knowing the visitor was expected made their introductions and began rearranging various items in the cabin.

The visitor went up to the cockpit. The sailor had finished his beer and was now pumping out the bilge of the venerable Katy. She was a wood hull, sloop rigged and a pre-war construction.

There were no winches for the jib or the mainsail. They had to be hauled up the old fashion way with brute strength. The lack of winches made it a necessary to have four pairs of hands on board to get the boat to sea. The Katy was not a boat that could be single handed.

Her weather deck was painted hue of yellow that resembled pale sunflower petals. Grit had been mixed into the paint so it would be a

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