A New Book
A new book, "Sailing
Among the Stars" by Laurel Wagers, is about Sea Dart, the boat itself,
and not so much about Tristan Jones, although he is an important part
of the book. This excellent little book was authored by Laurel Wagers.
I spent time with Laurel during her information researching stage, and
also was privileged to be able to help proof the manuscript for this
interesting and different piece of work. If you would like to learn
more, there is an information page available for that purpose. I am
particularly chagrined because the image of Sea Dart used on the cover
is one I took in Barbados when I first bought Dart. I hope you will
enjoy this latest addition to the existing library of books that
feature Sea Dart in one way or another.
Visit the "Sailing Among the Stars" Information Page
Sea
Dart has been donated
to the Idaho State Department of Parks and Recreation. The State has
officially
taken over everything related to Sea Dart. The State maintains
a Sea
Dart site
to which they post the latest information as it becomes available.
Sea Dart was successfully
moved to Idaho, partial restoration completed, and she promptly
returned
to Seattle to be featured in the Seattle boat show in January 1999. She
then
returned for further restoration, the rigging mostly, and she has now
started
her new job representing the State of Idaho in boating related
events.
A Day Sailing Sea Dart
The following images
were taken at the end of September 1999 on Cascade Reservoir, Cascade,
Idaho. I was very privileged to have Sea Dart offered to me by The
Idaho State Department of Parks and Recreation to allow me, center in
picture, to take my family sailing for a day. My daughters Kimberly,
17, Natalie, 6, and my wife Gretchen, no age available, along with
Kimberly's boyfriend Neil, joined me for a day of sailing. It was not
like the old days of blue water sailing, but it was greatly appreciated
by my family and me. The opportunity the Parks and Recreation folks
provided me to introduce my family to Sea Dart was greatly appreciated,
and I would like to thank them all very much for that wonderful
day.
It looks like Gretchen and I are alone, but the
rest of the gang are below decks.
I hope you find the
images interesting. Looking at them you get the idea that the winds
were dead, and they were in the beginning. A few hours later the winds
freshened, and in fact blew so hard that my young daughter Natalie was
scared to death as Dart put her lee rail under the water. As the winds
came up the clouds came in and I felt it was time to call it a day. I
dropped the sails and brought her in under engine. I was not out to
prove that I could sail, so didn't attempt to bring her in to the dock
under sail. That may have ended in disaster had I done so....grin. We
pulled Dart out as the weather became colder, and before we left for
Boise it was snowing! When we arrived in the morning it had been 22
degrees and Dart's deck was coated with ice. That was the first time I
had ever seen any ice on Dart, or even seen any ice when near Dart,
including in a cold drink. You get used to drinking 95 degree beer when
cruising the tropical seas in a small yacht, that is when you are lucky
enough to get a beer. :-)
May you have fair winds and following seas. Thank you for the visit.
Tristan Jones Page - The Good and The Bad
Page by: Ron Reil
Edited with AOLpress
©Golden Age Forge
7 Feb 02
