I met this man. Dave Laurie. He allowed me to sail with him. On Guinivere!
Sixty feet, from bowsprit to bumpkin! Forty tons, three quarter keel of solid steel. Farro cement. Built in Bluff.
God, she went to weather! Ten degrees off the point! Working hard to thirty degrees off the wind. With a
sea that matched but never supported the heading we were making! Never.....ever..
He did though. He buried me as we were entering Latoka, Fiji. I had just untied our 175 lb, CQR when a very large rogue wave covered me and shifted the anchor so that the fluke tore a hole in my foot. A very large hole! I'm bleeding all over the deck and am afraid to look because I didn't want to know how badly I was injured. I walked aft after dropping the pick and said, " Dave! Did you see that wave"? He answered," Yea, are you alright "? I said," I don't know"? And went below.
I went below not realizing how much blood was leaking out of my body! Blood everywhere! I asked Jeff, a jewler friend and shipmate if he would sew my foot back together? He vomited and said what a mess! He did, however curve an upulstry needle for me. I ran double twisted stranded dentil floss through the eye of the needle and with a bottle of rum proceeded to sew my foot back together. Thank God I was a yogi or I couldn't have done it! It is hard to see the bottom of your foot and even harder to stich it up. I also am fortunate to have surgical experience. It was harder to sew my eyebrow damage while looking in a mirror than to fix my foot.That is another story about my face marrying a post hole digger! I was digging the hole!
I joined with Dave in Apia, Samoa. He was born in South Africa and brought to New Zealand when he was 14. He has passed and was way to young. Heart attack. The world is a sorrier place for him not being here. I loved sailing with him and just hanging out. He is my friend and I his. You will hear more of him down the line. Love you Dave, with all my heart.........Aloha
Surfing Kauai defined me! Sailing the South Seas measured me. Commercial fishing fed me. The U. S. Merchant Marine showed me! Diving everywhere I have traveled allowed me to become something more and yet something less than the bird pile/fish feeding frenzy I have witnessed. What is above meets what is below, a paradox! No-balance.
About Me
- Robbin
- Sacramento, California, United States
- so salty pieces of coral from surfing Hawaii in the 60's and 70's getting reef pounded living in my body fall through my skin from time to time!
sailing to Oahu
Jimi Hendrix was playing on Oahu. I had never sailed. Surfed Mexico, California, Hawaii! Aw, how hard could it be to sail 90-110 miles from Kauai to Oahu? Piece of cake, right? Remember it was the 60's! This is so bad. We thought we were looking at Kaiena Point,Ohau, knowing we weren't going to make the concert! But at least we were in site of Oahu-wrong! Coy, who had never sailed before, me,who had never sailed before, jeff and Abbott etc. We were looking at the sleeping giant on Kauai! We had done three-sixty's in the night! We sailed on the only tri-marran I've ever sailed on ( except later ) in my life, missed the concert! It was at the Waikiki Shell Ampitheater ( Moon eclipsed . We finally made Nawilwili Harbor! The Skipper tried to give us his boat saying, " It's trying to kill me"! We watched him go stark raving mad not even realising that had we got caught in the channel current we were on our way to Japan! Remember it was the 60's and we were going to see Hendrix. I left out some of the good stuff but I will make up for it later!
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