The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1945-09-28

PROMINENT III Ouf Lni6
week, now that cur own small
boat is upside down on the beach
stripped Of its rigging, and l.
need Of considerable work and
attention before it will be ready
for re-launching. A boat re-
ruires attention. even the sim
Hest Of them. They are a lot
Of trouble. and a lot of fun. For
the plight of our present craft,
so have only ourselves to blame.
II turned over in a blow the night
before press day, which is the
day we print the paper and work
till late in the evening. II we
had gone out and righted it and
bailed it out there would have
been no trouble land a different
subject for the column this week..
But we let it lie there, pounding
on its side, in the waves, all that
day and all the next night and
the next day and the next night.
And you can't treat a boat that
way and get by with Il. The
boat lay on its own lines and cut
them through by rubbing them
in the sand. The mast came out
of its step and one part of the
bottom was worn badly where
it rubbed against the stake.
Paint was taken off. A wire stay
was broken. No irreparable
damage was done, but instead of
merely righting the boat ard
bailing it out-which would have
been enough had we got to it
the first day--it became neces-
sary TO re-rig it, haul it out, turn
1t over, scrape and paint, buy
new lines,' pulleys blocks to you,
sailor, wire, swive1s and about
a dozen other small items which
somehow manage to conceal
themselves on a boat in good
working condition but which be-
come very important when you
get into trouble.
Usually this JOB mas TO be
done a couple of times q year
if not because of a
storm. then to clean the bot
tom of its accumulation of bar
nacles ind growtts. or to caulk
a leak. or for a dozen reasons.
And then too. on a boat on
which the rigging and the sails
r worn. you never take II
out without fearing q rip. or a
parted hslYard. or the like. The
moral is, to keep a boat in g,od
condition. and re-ris il when
the lines get old. But TO re-
rig requires the same time and
effort as repairing. and there
you are. back in the vicious
circle.
AS a result of all this, many of
the people who own small boats
rarely sail them. Along any
coast line you can see hundreds
of these little craft tied up at
stakes, but only rarely now do
you see more than n or two
sails out on the water. 1t is a
fairly active sailor who sails three
times a month.
And yet as we worked on the
bottom of our fine craft the 9TH
er day, scraping barnacles and
laying a wire brush to the old
paint, the sun felt warm and
good and the wind was blowing
and the water was sparkling.
The grass blew in the wind and
the sand was clean and white.
And if we had not known it was
work, we very likely would have
had a good time at it.
In fact, to be truthful, we did
enjoy it. We enjoyed working
on the overturned boat, in the
hot sun, as much as we enjoy
sailing it. Perhaps more so. You
work along for a while, doing
some familiar thing with your
hands. and you begin to lose all
consciousness of time, of the
world, and even of yourself. The
business of scraping or painting
is just simple enough and just
difficult enough to consume youl
attention without being weari-
some. You work away, and the
time passes, and it is not bad at
all. And so it is with men who
have good trades and ply them
in decent surroundings. They de-
velop a sense of craftsmanship.
that, in ideal cases, is really the
envy of the white collar man, the
office worker, the shuffler of
papers and keeper of books and
scribbler of memoranda, The
man who works well with his
hands, who is in good health and
who enjoys his work. knows a
sense of accomplishment and
well-being that no amount of
money in the world could buy.
But getting back to the sub
iect of small boats. probably
what we really NEAR TO say is
that they are good sport and
that the little work required
really makes the sport enjoy