Tall ships have been sailing up the river to Chestertown for several years now to take part in our Downrigging weekend, and there must be many of us watching from land who envy the picturesque way of life by those who sail in them.
Harvey Oxenhorn, student and teacher, no athlete, had volunteered to become part of the crew of Regina Maris. The ship was a barkentine, “with more than three miles of lines and sixteen canvas sails.” She was bound from Boston for the Arctic to study humpbacked whales.
Oxenhorn is assigned the fore watch, bossed by twenty-three year old Joan, who is teaching them knots. He fails the bowline, but finally after many tries and help from David, who’d crewed on skipjacks, learned the slippery clove hitch. “Great,” said Joan, ”of course, when its rough aloft, you’ll want to do that with one hand.”
Oxenhorn gives us a vivid picture of the crowded, uncomfortable conditions, of people learning to live and work together. Although terrified of heights, he learns to climb, and in seven foot seas and soaking rain is paralyzed trying to furl the sails – out on the yard arm and afraid to move. Once again it is Dave who comes to his aid. “On deck I was grateful to Dave but angry with myself . . .Now I dread it worse than before. I’m not sure I can go up again.”
There are descriptions of wind , weather, ice bergs and whales —“Every time I have seen a whale its beauty, power and intelligence have been self evident.”
While reading Tuning the Rig, you are not only a member of the crew, but you are shown skies and seas and shores of intense beauty. This is not a peaceful read; you find yourself holding the book, white knuckled, almost afraid to turn the page, though you know the author survived to write it. It was sad to read that Harvey Oxenhorn was killed in an automobile accident shortly after it came out.
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