Today
when twin hulls foil on top
Why
splash through waves that slow and stop?
With
carbon-fiber’s proven use
Why
still a mast of sitka spruce?
When
titanium’s in demand
Why
lay-up fiberglass by hand?
And
as I stop to think of it
A
GPS would help a bit.
The
boat I sail’s a century old
At
least in its design and mold.
When
Princip shot Duke Ferdinand
That
year when World War One began,
When
Charlie Chaplin’s on-screen vamp
Introduced
The Little Tramp,
Then
Cap’n Nat got Emmons’ note
And
made by hand the H12 boat.
He
had a goal for ease of sail
So
kids could learn in Buzzard’s gale,
Though
it’s not hard to make her go,
The
trick is not to sail her slow.
The
gaff-rigged main can be perverse
The
peak-set is the devil’s curse:
Stretch
it, loose it, lower to lee,
Forget
to raise – a tragedy!
There’re
more mistakes that can occur
When
putting up the spinnaker.
I’ve
made them all and here’s my list –
It
starts with getting a forestay-twist;
I’ve
had it doused into the sea
Which
slowed my pace considerably;
Other
times it’s up too long
And
I jibe the mark completely wrong.
This
H12 boat can separate
The
best, from sailors not-so-great
Because
it tests their seamanship
Instead
of high tech brinkmanship.
So
when it’s a comparison
Of
Cap’n Nat and Ellison,
I’m
proud to sail, when I cast off,
The
boat that’s named for Herreshoff.
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