Editor's Note: This entry is part of a series of entries chronicling
GolfCourseHome and WaterViewHome Publisher David Lott's cruise from
Baltimore to Martha's Vineyard. Look for links to the next entry at the
end of each post. You can also find links to other posts at the start
of each entry.
Day 1: 40 Fast Miles Ends with Engine Failure
Day 2 & 3 : Fuel polishing and on to the C&D Canal.
Day 4: Delaware Bay
Day 6: Trump Marina Atlantic City
Day 6-7: Confused Seas at Manasquan Inlet
Day 7-8: Riding Pea Soup Fog into New York City
Day 8-9: Cruising thru New York City & Hell's Gate
Day-9-10: Beautiful Boats at Milford, CT
Day 11: Saybrook & the Schooner Winfield Lash
Day 12-13: Martha's Vineyard at Last
Dave Clake stands next to the boat he spent 18 years building, the Windfield Lash, Friendship, Maine. Note the T-shirt: Have you hugged your binnacle today?
From Milford, CT, we motor sailed to Saybrook and then on to Point Judith, Rhode Island. Now we were only one day away from our destination and it seemed that the trip was coming to a close all too soon. But one of our final encounters was one of the best. We ran into a real old salt named Dave Clarke, 70, who hails from Peterborough, NH, but more realistically today you could say his home is his boat, the Windfield Lash, which has to win best boat name of the trip.
Winfield Lash, two-masted schooner, Point Judith, Rhode Island.
Clarke speaks with the quiet confidence of a man who has accomplished
much and is not easily impressed. His launched his two-masted schooner
in 2000 after laboring for 18 years to bring it into being. The rich
wood interior is filled with a rare wood he scavenged off a foundered
ship. The deck is highlighted by the shinning binnacle of a topless
woman shouldering the ship's compass.
The binnacle--cold comfort for long nights at sea?
A section of the massive bowsprit.
Even the dingy is a beauty.
Clarke noted that he served on the "first spook boat" in the Cold War era of the 1950s. His ship was a submarine--with "tubes loaded with live torpedoes fore and aft"--that followed Russian subs that had ventured into US coastal waters.
The gentle sweep of the foredeck of Winfield Lash.
Looking forward--notice the long bowsprit.
The Winfield Lash measures 32 feet in length along the water line, then add another 10 feet for the bowsprit.
The masts stand tall under a threatening sky.
Prisms imbedded in the deck cast light in the cabin below.
More storage detail; notice the light streaming down from the prism from the deck above.
The main cabin, looking forward, offers the warm comforting feeling of rich wood.
The detail near the top of the closet was taken from found furniture and inserted.
Headboard for the bed.
The skylight is centered over the main living area.
Clarke intends to circumnavigate the globe once he finishes repairing odds and ends in Port Judith.
The Winfield Lash was not the only appealing wooden boat at the marina. See below for another.
The Port Judith Marina had all the conveniences and was a fine resting spot.
Early the next morning, a Saturday, fishing boats started heading out to sea.
Avanti ready for the final leg on Saturday shortly after dawn.
Kathleen, a magnificent catboat, sailed by as we readied to leave. The boat was profiled in Wooden Boat magazine in its November/December 2006 issue. You can see a photo story of her construction here
Couldn't resist taking several photos.
A looker from all angles.
Heading out from the breakers at Port Judith, we turned north into Buzzard's Bay and a late afternoon
rendezvous with Elise and her brother Charlie in Wood's Hole, MA.
The early morning haze began to lift and so did our spirits. The bimini came down and we let the sun shine in. Miles Traveled: 419. Day 13: Martha's Vineyard at Last
Comments