Chet North, Deer Harbor, Orcas Island. Caulking his WINDENTIDE. |
"The WINDENTIDE had been developing
in Dad’s mind for years. When I joined the Navy, he set about gathering lumber
and parts for her. I doubt I cost that much to keep, since they had taught me
from very young, if there was something desired, it was up to me to get it, and
so – bed-sheet sails, old boats, and vintage cars were my proud possessions.
But the time had arrived for Dad to have a toy or two. He had
built boats for other people for years and had tired of the hassle with people
that really couldn’t afford the boat they wanted and somehow it became Dad’s
responsibility to get them their desire.
My uncle had done well fishing summers off the Washington coast
for salmon and Dad had made a few trips out with him. So the WINDENTIDE now had
an excuse for being built. For three years, Mother as much as Dad, worked at
earning some income while scrounging for equipment and laboring on the boat;
early, late, and weekends until an extreme tide at daylight the two of them
launched that big hull into the morning sun.
This was the summer of 1953 and I was in Korea, waiting out my
last few months in the Navy. The photographs I received did little to sooth my
homesickness. She was a trim thirty-nine feet and needed me, I could feel
it."
Thank you to L.W. North for sharing the above
photograph and text.
No comments:
Post a Comment