We walked to English Harbor to peek at some of the boats, and it was time to get some things taken care of! Propane to pick up, laundry pic up, water for the tanks!

I've been hiking every day, doing my nature photography and getting some exercise, but today Dudley wanted to walk to English Harbor! We had some more bad fuel to discard there and while Dudley was sitting on the bench people watching I took off for a photo session. Lots of photo ops, but when I got to this wooden boat with the funky turquoise hull, I had to stop and talk! Turns out he is the well known, 'ever-ebullient' Sir Phil Kerin.

He started to tell me about how he rescued this gaff rigged schooner, and brought her back to life after 4 years of rebuilding! I stopped him and asked if I could go get Dudley so he could benefit from an obviously gifted story teller! And could he ever talk! Wow. His life story is truly jaw dropping and he had never sailed this boat prior to entering her in this Classic Regatta! There was so much of his life that he shared with us (by the way, he was leaving in 5 minutes) I wish I had written it down or recorded it! He's well known for being a talker and he has a heartwarming story of how he fell from a yard and was almost fatally injured. The folks around English Harbor admired and loved him so much they raised enough money to pay his $46,000. medical bill, restore his accounts that were closed during his coma of 15 months and even more than we could begin to remember! Would love to invite him to dinner and record all this!

It was because of his invitation that we entertained coming to the awards ceremony. His boat made it to the races, "probably came in last" but he finished putting her finishing touches just in time to be a contender.

I can see Humphrey Bogart portraying this man's life! So colorful! Such a man of the sea!

Bec