Toe Rails

Toe rail:  a very low wood or metal strip that runs around the edge of the deck of a boat between the bow and the stern.

I arrived at the Center well short of 10:00, which is when it technically "opens" on a weekend.  I was the first to run the communal, much-storied coffee pot.  Yet Martin was already at work on the Betsy D.  We had already sanded.  Now it was time to paint.  First we had to mask off, so it was foot after foot of blue tape, for which I would like to offer thanks to the inventor as it makes so much more obvious where one has applied white paint and where one has not.  Martin showed me how to get marine paint the proper consistency, then we got on the gloves and got busy.  For me, painting was very relaxed, focused activity, and Martin was able to very calmly coach this newbie on how to make more out of less paint and smooth the whole thing out.  We did toe rails, we did gunwales, and we did hatches.  The weather held.  Then I used this homemade device that spins the paintbrush in the thinner to get it clean.  In spite of this clever technology, my pants still got splattered.

...coming back over the horizon

 

It's the nature of being "on the account:"  The pirate will go from ship to ship, wherever there's room, work and a captain worth sailing under.  Blue Lou has been from thecuriousman.com to Tribe to MySpace to Facebook.  Now he's actually gonna try a real blog.  Why?

Yesterday, something happened that felt significant.  For several years, I have volunteered at the Center for Wooden Boats.  I have gone from wandering the docks and manning the jib on Sunday Public Sails to passing SailNow! training and becoming "Pirate Lou," the guy in costume who tells tales of Blackbeard and scares small children.  Last July at the annual Festival, I tore an anterior cruciate ligament, because a 40-year-old loaded with pistols and blades thought he could take a shortcut across the docks...and was very wrong.  I was absent from the Center for several months, which felt like, well, not having rum.  I hate not having rum.