Best Sail Ever
Today was a double-header sail day, so we went RIGHT back out again, and I rode the high from that morning. Everything went *almost* perfectly, right up till I lay aloft to furl the t'gans'l for the first time. I lay over to leeward and glanced across the yard, to find.. a t'weeker that had never furled anything in his life. And was looking down wide-eyed at the deck.
Uh-oh.
What followed was some hurried "Ok, here I think.. no wait, do this thing over there. No that.. that's not right. Actually, you know what? It's fine. Perfect. Go ahead and lay low, I'll just .. clean up.. here." So we rolled up a bunch of dead-babies, and it just HAPPENED to stay that way all the next day through tours.
*EDIT* Le'Argh. I looked all over the web for an official reference on the term "Dead Babies," but no luck. It's a square-rigger's term referring to bunched up bundles of canvas rolled together when the sail is furled. When I can download images off my phone I'll post an example, but when a furled (rolled up) sail looks like it might have something stuffed inside in the areas between the gaskets (lines tying the sail to the yard), you've got "Dead Babies." As though there are dead babies rolled up in the sail. It's SUPPOSED to look even and flat, like a perfectly rolled up.. er.. cigarette sitting on the yard.
Yeah, square-rig sailors are kind of messed up. But I'm not arguing that with you!!
Uh-oh.
What followed was some hurried "Ok, here I think.. no wait, do this thing over there. No that.. that's not right. Actually, you know what? It's fine. Perfect. Go ahead and lay low, I'll just .. clean up.. here." So we rolled up a bunch of dead-babies, and it just HAPPENED to stay that way all the next day through tours.
*EDIT* Le'Argh. I looked all over the web for an official reference on the term "Dead Babies," but no luck. It's a square-rigger's term referring to bunched up bundles of canvas rolled together when the sail is furled. When I can download images off my phone I'll post an example, but when a furled (rolled up) sail looks like it might have something stuffed inside in the areas between the gaskets (lines tying the sail to the yard), you've got "Dead Babies." As though there are dead babies rolled up in the sail. It's SUPPOSED to look even and flat, like a perfectly rolled up.. er.. cigarette sitting on the yard.
Yeah, square-rig sailors are kind of messed up. But I'm not arguing that with you!!
posted by doug | 1:23 PM
3 Comments:
Ha ha... you might want to explain "dead-babies," just in case. ;)
Hrm.. you've a point. Mayhap I'll post an explanation with a picture when I can download some off my phone tonight.
They're not real dead-babies! There are no actual dead babies on the Lady Washington!!
Maybe it's just a Lady Washington thing and not a square-rigger thing. That might explain why you can't find it on the intarweb. Or maybe no one wants to talk about it and here you've told everyone.
Shame. Shame!
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