nerd651's Blog

I have been asked by several members to post a little bit more about myself in a blog post. So if you want to hear more, keep reading. I have been sailing and racing boats and ships for over 40 years. I started racing dingy class sailboats in the Chesapeake Bay near Annapolis MD. I raced on a Thistle (an open cockpit, 17' dingy class sailboat, 3 man crew).

From there I switched to racing a 27' Catalina class yacht (4 man crew), racing the Catalina all over the Chesapeake Bay under the PHRF rules (performance handicap racing fleet rules). The 27' Catalina had an enclosed cabin, a comfort in a cold driving rain. The St Brendon Cup was an overnight race to test navigation, but it went terribly wrong. We sailed from Annapolis, but we became becalmed next to the Thomas Point lighthouse. We bobbed around all night until the morning winds came in the pre-dawn hours and we began to move. We headed east into Eastern Bay when we noticed darkening clouds to the south and other darkening clouds to the north. Friction between the two weather fronts caused severe storms in between which resulted in 4 water spouts by the time we reached the Bloody Point Light. We finished the race in first place, but it was a hollow victory. All of our competition had given up and motored home when we were becalmed near Thomas Point lighthouse. We were the only boat in our class that finished the race.

Then, I switched to racing a 34' C&C class yacht (4 to 6 man crew), also with an enclosed cabin, racing the C&C all over the Chesapeake Bay under the same PHRF rules. The Governor's Cup was an overnight race from Annapolis MD to St Maries City MD intended to prove our skills of night navigation. I sailed through the night rounding Point Lookout, turning up the Potomac River and then turning to the north up the St Maries River. As we approached St Maries Bay, I saw a state owned dock at which was docked the Dove of St Maries. On that day, my sailing began to change from racing yachts to sailing big square right ships.

In the early 1600s, the original Dove of St Maries carried the supplies for the first the colony of Maryland. The Dove was 76' long with a 40 ton displacement. It had 3 masts (square-rigged foremast, square-rigged main mast, and lateen-rigged mizzen mast). It carries a crew of just a half dozen men or so. After a half dozen or so Atlantic crossings, the crew of the original Dove had a labor dispute with Lord Baltimore. While the dispute was resolved, the Dove lay at anchor off Point Comfort without crew maintenance. The marine worms ate the Dove's bottom and the ship was lost. The 17th century lawsuit that followed, left a rich record of the exact dimensions of the Dove.

In 1970, Maryland commissioned the construction of a replica of the original Dove to be used as a state ambassador ship. The Dove I saw docked at the state docks in St Maries harbor was that replica ship. During the parties after the Governor's Cup, I searched out the captain of the replica Dove and inquired about later joining the Dove's crew. I then joined the new Dove's crew and sailed as crew on that replica Dove for 5 to 10 years.

On one trip with the Dove, we arrived at a water festival known as the Blessing of the Fleet on St Clements Island. On that island, I ran into an old sailing buddy of mine named Nick. He had become the 1st mate on the Gazela. Seeing my interest in the Gazela, Nick recruited me for the next sailing tour of the Gazela. The Gazela is a barkentine ship of about 700 tons displacement with three masts (see the attached photo of a water color painting of the Gazela by Richard Moore). The foremast is square-rigged and 4 sails high. The main mast has a gaff-rigged main sail and a top of gaff stay sail. The mizzen mast has a gaff-rigged mizzen sail and a top of gaff stay sail. Gazela carries 17 sails totaling one-quarter acre of canvas and a crew of 25 to 30 sailors. I was one of the crew. The Gazela was built in Setúbal, Portugal in 1883 and sailed out of Lisbon, Portugal to fish the Grand Bank in maritime Canada from 1883 until 1969. Gazela's home port is currently Philadelphia, but, between 1883 and 1969, the Gazela was owned and operated by a Portuguese family to be sailed out of Lisbon and used as part of the "White" fishing fleet. I was with the ship as we sailed on many ambassador tours to ports from Hampton VA to as far north as St John's, Newfoundland. It is a great ship and I grew to respect the skill and craftsmanship of the Portuguese sailors who first sailed it.