Dreams ...

From time to time, I write notes to Marcia of "Dreams". Make Believe stories that will remain just for her.

But these stories of Dreams are for you who follow these writings. I hope you enjoy them.

Written from time to time in the Third Person.

By Date Written ...

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August 13th, 2009

Just days before their trip to Sweden, "Just to look at boats", he thought of the time last summer standing on the dock with Gene when he learned of two high end manufacturers of sailboats. Names he had never heard before.

Amel and Hallberg-Rassy.

After researching both and downloading most of the images from the HR website, the HR company certainly produced some very nice vessels. That fall, he contacted the company representative in Annapolis who displayed genuine kindness and a sincere patience with both of them.

Now, just a few hours (literally) from embarking on yet another trip, he wonders what they will see and learn there. So far away.

All the HR vessels in the water. 31' 34' 37' 40' 43' 48' 54' and 62'. Open for review. One hundred other boats from other manufacturers also available. Over one hundred vendors hawking their wares. "If you buy this, you will ... ... ... ". An open factory to wander about and ask questions and witness how a vessel so wonderful, can be made from some frozen snot, fibreglas, wood and metal, rope and cloth. And a great deal of patience by skilled people producing something so very, very nice.

Saturday night they have tickets #1 and #2 for the sold out dinner and lecture with a speaker who has circumnavigated the world with an HR 62. Just he and his wife. Ten years in the planning, three years preparing.

Mr Martensson and his wife Heléne sailed their “Yaghan” around the world. They cast off from Stockholm on June 1st, 2006, and estimate to arrive back home on July 28th this year. The total sailing distance is 44,000 nautical miles, and they have sailed via the Antarctic, South Pacific , South Africa, South America, Caribbean and then back to Sweden.

Monday, they will test sail a 43' Hallberg-Rassy. They are indeed fortunate for the priviledge granted of the over 30,000 people that will come to the Open House.

Tuesday, they will attempt to find his mother's homestead. A small cabin on the side of a hill. Now abandoned. But built well over one hundred years ago.

Now, late at night, his thoughts wander to a land far away. What will they see? What will it be like? Their room overlooking the water? The food? Will enough people speak English as neither speaks Svenska? What will be forgotten? Remembered?

As his thoughts drift, he realizes it is time to retire ...

 

"It looks like frozen snot.”

L. Francis Herreshoff
Looking at a Herreshoff Bullseye built of fiberglass.

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August 10th, 2009

After one hundred trips to rebuild Empty Pockets, he got to thinking. "Where will this lead?"

There was no answer. No feelings. At least not anything immediate beyond Trip one hundred and one and the frustration encountered with the day's events. Or, lack of.

Then, he thought, "What is Empty Pockets?". Now, he felt something.

He remembered that Palm Sunday now long ago when they drove around Lake Pepin and how he wanted to see her again. How it felt to touch - what was once his. How it felt to be on water - a delightful and dangerous mistress. To let wind - whether moderate, immoderate or absolutely dangerous fill the sails and drive the vessel forward. And, he felt a dread fear - a constant companion on water, an intimate friend when conquered, a feeling deep inside that must be respected. How it felt to talk to her of her and an adventure of long ago on their journey about Lake Pepin.

But now, Empty Pockets has given up her secrets. Of those who built her. Of a design that has stood the test of time. Even the few scant clues of twenty five years he knows nothing of. Twenty five years of others enjoying her.

Now, she enjoys their presence, their touch, their voices and their dreams.

Dreams that are fresh and somewhat grand. Dreams that lie far away on the doorstep of one of Earth's great oceans. And, just like stepping beyond the curb that borders one's property to a street, a street that could be the start of a very long journey, that first step might be a settler starting from the edge of St Louis and embarking on the Oregon Trail, or a Norsk Viking, stepping from the dock to raid England again, or a family, getting in their car for a vacation far away.

Or, a couple, who have no idea what to expect when crossing that imaginary line the forms the curb with a familiar home in the Chesapeake Bay, and the totally unfamiliar and scary, beyond. Where soon, they will be Beyond The Horizon on another journey, one of so many they have shared. Except this one will know God's paintbrush of a beautiful sunset, or porpoises chattering beside the bow, or the waves that have no beginning, no ending, and, they will know to trust in a Greater Power than themselves as their newfound home is bollixed about far from land. And their prayer, that their new home will cradle them and protect them as a mother does the baby in her lap. Rocking it back to sleep, amidst the storm that woke the little one.

What is "Empty Pockets"?

It is the their Dream of discovering a New World together. A New World of beauty, of needing each others and of sharing Our Creator's magnificent expanse. Whether at the Dock, or the Bay, or Beyond The Horizon.

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