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| The "Mary D", Honolulu, 1968 |
"You steer like a snake pees"
Our van "Pancho" and the sloop "Mary D" have a lot in common.
Both are stout, sturdy, white, self-contained and built for long journeys.
I had always remembered the "Mary D" as being 26' in length. Fred says she was 28'. Let's just say she was
small.
She was also slow. A chubby boat, her top speed--rarely achieved--was 4.5 knots, as I recall.
But, as sailors say, you shouldn't go sailing if you're in a hurry.
While Fred and I were prepared for the long trip to Hawaii, with plenty of provisions in case he and his sextant missed the
mark (this was way before global positioning devices were invented), the one week we spent mid-cruise with absolutely no wind--and
no movement except for a gentle bob riding swells up and down--caused this young crew member to get a little ancy.
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| Manfred Rott, Honolulu, 1968 |
Fred and I met through a mutual friend in San Diego, an older woman that I knew socially and he knew better.
With time on my hands that summer as I waited to be called up for the Draft (having lost my student deferment for violating
a college drug policy), I accepted the position as Fred's cook and deck hand.
The sail to Honolulu was to be the first leg of a cruise Fred planned to the South Pacific. But, disgusted with the slow
performance of the boat and disheartened by the lousy job of his cook, Fred ended up selling the "Mary D" in Hawaii.
I suspect a young woman from St. Paul, Minnesota, also had something to do with Fred's change of plans.
He had met Janice on a visit to Minnesota years before.
| What happens when you jump for a dock & miss |
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| Jim, hanging out in Honolulu, 1968 |
When we finally pulled into the Ala Moano Yacht Club ("I wanna cheeseburger"), our first stop on land was the men's
shower and the second was Janice's apartment, a long walk up a steep hill on shaky sea legs.
Janice had traded the snow of Minnesota for the warm tropical rain of the Islands, landing one of many jobs she was to
hold as a computer programmer.
A precision machinist by trade, Manfred, too, was able to find work where ever he traveled.
And together they traveled off, trading the "Mary D" for a lifetime of adventure to points around the globe.
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| Fred and Janice after dinner at their home in Oriental |
And me? I traded Hawaii for a year on terra firma in South East Asia.
Then, while I went on to bounce from job to job, Janice and Fred went on to bounce from place to place, sailing across
the Atlantic (more than once), driving from India to Europe in a VW van, buying and selling boats (some which they built)
and always staying in contact with the many friends they made along the way.
Even bad cooks.
Twenty-five years ago the Rotts settled down in Oriental, North Carolina, in a house they built next to a creek which
flows to the Intercoastal Waterway and the Atlantic.
While they don't plan to move again, that doesn't mean they don't keep moving.
They still cruise, sailing to the Bahamas and the Caribbean. They still travel by VW bus, driving once until the sea
stopped them in Alaska.
And they don't plan to stop bouncing.
Although, perhaps not as roughly as the trip Fred once took with a friend riding motorcycles from San Diego to the tip
of South America. And back.
A newer VW van is on their shopping list. This one with air conditioning. Fred may crew on a friend's boat this Fall
on a sail to the Caribbean.
They may have a permanent address now. But I don't think they will ever be permanently in place.
| Tom boards the "Windward", Oriental, N.C. |
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| Fred to Jim: "You steer like a snake pees" |
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| Sailing the Neuse River aboard Fred's boat |
| Skipper Rott |
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