Thumping

[Riley Smith]

We were up around where the old Dantzler saw mill when I first heard S R Cat thumping. The wind was up and Sonya and I had a great sail there where I'd found the cap piece of the centerboard trunk, digging it up out of the mud. Heart Pine from those long ago trees, buried in mud that will save it for centuries. 60 annular rings to the inch. We'd visited because it's a cool place and the water is deep and clear and a fun place to sail. The schooners used to dock here and load timber. And we were commemorating that trip finding the piece for the boat.

We were on a close reach headed back to the ramp in a spritely wind when I heard the Huey. I KNOW what a Huey helicopter sounds like and was trying to look around the sail and find it, because it was CLOSE. But there WASN'T a helicopter??? And then we changed heading a tiny bit and the sound changed and I understood. S R Cat was happy, and the long leech of that gaff sail was strumming and thumping in the breeze. We were laid over to the tune. And the sail was vibrating in the breeze. S R Cat's own special sound.

She was picking up her skirts!

 Yeah, it was fun. The two rivers, the Escatawpa and the Pascagoula meet there and there is a good sand shore on the north side. There are eagles and ospreys too, as well as a bonanza of driftwood deposited by the currents and rivers. We sailed and listened to the thumping, every nerve alive in the wind. The wake taking on that sound that it makes when you're trucking.

Soon enough we made the channel to the ramp and she got done dancing. And we were tingling from being alive.

[Charles Brennan]

Riley, Wow.  What a great description.

Charles Brennan

[Riley Smith]

Thanks CB. That was a fun sail back when the boat was new. We had sand in all the usual places from hiking the shoreline and playing on the sand bar. Good place to swim too, especially on a summer day.

[Doug SC]

I love that type of a day sailing. What a way to spend a day!