Lucy Like the Wind

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Unbelievable! This boat is alone. No master, no captain, no real future. If the skuttlebutt is right, she has done incredibly well considering she has been tethered here in the bay for 6 years. But how long can she ne expected to hold up her end of the boat bargain?

She's our neighbour and we wondered about her. The story goes that her owner was from Britain, overstayed his welcome and got booted out.

So it seems poor Lucy is standing by, with a very uncertain future. You might argue that Lucy is free, or freer than most, rocking on a summery ocean pond, through turns of tides and seasons, under the winking eyes of sun and stars.

Boats do have a life of their own. But we lean toward the symbiotic partnership of folks and boats. Generally neither do well as loners. We've seen so many boats cast aside, awash with their ribs broken through acts of god, storms or shoals or human confusion. Others are warehoused in buildings or shackled in open fields, waiting patiently for the title holders to sort their lives out. Been there, done that. We motor or tiptoe past them, knowing that the owners or their heirs are probably not coming back and they will probably never float again.

But Lucy is standing firm or ah.... floating proud, physically and metaphorically in Lake Worth, Florida, waiting to be part of something exciting once again. I think she has more in her than a silent witness, whose ropes will fray some day and she will slip out to sea. Or worse yet, become a navigational hazard. If she had her choice, she might settle for becoming part of an environmental reef building project.

I do believe Lucy has hung on for so long single-handed because she wants to be part of the solution, with some of the fun.

Please keep in mind that this is just a blog; not investigative journalism. Maybe it's all a cock up and Lucy's owner is one of the absentee owners of one of the shuttered mansions on the shore and we're just nosy boater's looking for a romantic sea-tale. Who knows?

I do know that I don't want to pass by here again and see her waiting in a more derelict state as a monument to the bureaucracy of benign indifference.

Lucy has a life and she deserves better! Here's hoping!

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Comments

[Kathryn]

So sad
Love "the storms of human confusion." Lucy has a lot of company -- being alone -- I'm sure. Love your writing!

[gord]

Lucy
Could be a drug smuggling boat?

[James]

Lucy Like the Wind
Interesting, wonderful read. I didn't know you were such a great writer. Hope you, Frank and Ginger are doing well and enjoying your voyage.

[Mike Moore]

Memories
It is a sad event when a vessel I have sailed in and known intimately is towed away to the Breakers. It is better that she form a new reef as many of our destroyers have over the years. All vessels have a spirit and are called "She" for a very good reason. In our senior years we sailors stand around in groups enjoying our beer and fondly remember these "Old Girls" and where they took us. This has been so since we first faithfully set out on the "Briney" to explore the unknown and trust that "She" would take us safely there and back. The most important object that is kept is the ships bell; in storage or to be eventually used on a new ship of the same name. Cheers, M&M