DUFF STUFF-Personal reports now & then from my perch on the EYC Race Committee-Bob Duff: 09/22/08

Howdy from Bob Duff,

My computers (three of them right now) are playing tricks on me. My Internet access and e-mail have been down for a few days. Comcast just got me back up on only this DELL. I am putting out this blog issue using what resources are here.

I bought my own camera this week and have pictures of an old special place for IOD TANGO in Ted Hood's Marblehead Little Harbor Boat Yard. However, the Dell computer does not yet accept my little photo transfers. My MacBook Pro took them graciously for review and you may enjoy them later on. They must wait for more technical breakthroughs before I can show them to you.

Meanwhile, I am stealing three shots from Ulrika Welsch's wonderful book "MARBLEHEAD" which you may purchase via her web site identified below. Above here is a shot of the old boat yard from Gerry Island in the middle of our Little Harbor. Those multi-million dollar town houses in the background have been built where some really great racing yachts were once built and where TANGO spent several winters and springs along with quite a few other smaller racing yachts. I will get into more of those stories in the weeks ahead. The church tower in the background above is just below my old house on High Street. Its G.D. bell rings into my bedroom window as a call to church on Sunday mornings. I am usually already at Episcopal church/choir a few blocks away. However, I do sputter and curse a little when I try to sleep on a Sunday past 10 AM.

Before leaving Little Harbor tonight, I must point out that the "town father's" refused Ted permission to dredge the harbor for more of the big yachts which wanted to come here and spend lots of money in our little town. Consequently Ted took his several yachting businesses to Newport, Rhode Island where the new Little Harbor Boat Yard has generated a lot of money, jobs and employment for hundreds of people. What price quaint beauty?

Next below, Ule captured a fleet of International One Design yachts reaching out on a triangular course with the wind over the starboard (right) side. As you might expect, I suggest that my TANGO #16 is way out in front of these laggards. The triangle course is used infrequently these days with starts going directly into the wind on a windward/leeward/windward/leeward course to finish with legs one nautical mile or so each.

The other picture below is ole Duff lighting the candles on the antique chandelier at St. Michael's Episcopal Church. It was built in 1714. I sang Russian Bass here and lit candles for years to get away from that G.D. loud bell at Old North Church Sunday mornings. Incidentally, our Old North is not the one in Boston where Paul Revere saw the lanterns. Paul did make OUR bell which the Yankees broke celebrating on July 4th 1776.

Sorry for the blog bugs! They will not let me type below the pictures, but I can paste the info on Ulrika's book inviting you to see more of her wonderful work.

Photographs by Ulrike Welsch

Published by Commonwealth Editions, 2000

ISBN 1-889833-16-9

" . . . Marblehead is infinitely more than a historic town by the ocean. It has always been defined as much by its nonconformity and independence as by its natural beauty and preoccupation with the sea . . . "

Hardcover, 10x10", 128 pages, 127 Color Photos