Steve Earley wrote that recently he has had to correct two passersby who told him his Welsford Pathfinder, SPARTINA, is a cute boat.
I was reminded that once I, too, owned a ‘cute’ boat and so I looked up the passage in THE OPEN BOAT: Across the Pacific.
And this afternoon as I sailed across from the marina to the greater privacy of a mooring for the night, it all become overt when the light breeze carried a girl’s voice from a passing Cal 25. Her words were not intended for my ears, but I heard them clearly as CHIDIOCK and I bobbled in their wake: “What a cute little sailboat.” No search of the horizon was required to know of whom she spoke. Nevertheless I made one. Unfortunately there could be no mistake. Cute? Cuddly? Me?
And a few nights later anchored in San Diego Bay, a couple rowing their dog ashore from an ungainly motorsailer came close.
When they were in range the man called:
“What kind of boat is that?”
I told him and forestalled the obvious next question by adding that she had been built in England.
“Nice boat for the bay.”
It could have been said many ways, but his tone was just a shade offensive, just a shade too superior and patronizing. I started to say, “Yes, she is. But this one is going around the world.” Just in time I caught myself and merely smiled. I might as well stay cute and cuddly as long as possible.
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Our Evanston condo building has eight units. Of the original eight owners, three of us are left. One couple moved away last week. He had retired from the faculty of Loyola University and still had contacts there. At a goodbye party for them, he commented that an IT person from the University had come over to help him transfer his data to a new computer. He said that he had thought he had about 80,000 photos on various hard drives, but discovered he actually has 130,000.
I am reasonably certain there have not been130,000 photographs worth saving since Joseph Nicéphore Niépce took the first one in 1826 or 1827.
This vast number caused me to recall the pioneer aviator/author, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s observation that in aircraft design perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to remove. So I believe it is in art and boats and life.
