In Memorium

In memory of dad...

This is in memorium to my dad, Quinn Lewis Stewart, Jr., who at the age of 94, August 28, 2009, went on to be with the Lord. He never was one to miss out on a good trip. He would often tell of how he and mom, along with aunt Sara and Haywood had visited all 48 contiguous states and would have gone to Hawaii if someone had built a bridge.

I don't think he would have been opposed to sailing there.

Even in his 90's he went down to the beach and sailed with my brother and I on Briar Patch. Any time from now on when I am out sailing, a piece of him will always be with me.

The following poem is in memory of dad, my ship.

The Ship
I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength, and I stand and watch her until at length she is only a speck of white cloud just where the sea and the sky meet and mingle with each other. Then someone at my side exclaims, “There, she’s gone!”
Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all. She is just as large in hull and mast and spar as she was when she left my side, and just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of her destination. Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment when someone at my side says, “She’s gone,” there are other eyes watching for her coming and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, “There, she comes!”
And that is dying.

Sailing in and around the Chesapeake Bay

Mid-August, 2009 Susie and I went to White Stone, VA, in the subburbs of Kilmarnok, to visit a dear old friend of ours that lives on the Northern Neck penunsula of the Cheasapeake Bay. Jim Hatch actually lives on Carters Creek, which is off the Rappahannock River, which feeds into the Cheasapeake Bay. If you are looking at a chart, the Rappahannock is the river just south of the Potomac. It is a beautiful place to live, mostly because it is a beautiful place to sail. On Saturday we went sailing with Jim's neighbor, Carl and Debi on their new Hunter 45 along with two other friends, John and Sammie. It was a very light-air day, but we didn't care. Any time you are sailing (in comfort) with friends, old and new, it's a good day. The next evening we took JAZZ, Jim's Pearson True North, up the Rappahannock to the quaint little town of Urbanna where we casually walked from the harbor one block into town and had a great dinner at the Cafe' MoJo restaurant. What's neat about the Chesapeake Bay is that there is so much waterman history and all of the quaintly named towns and bays live up to their charming expressions. Another day we took JAZZ on an extended cruise down the Rappahannack into the Chesapeake Bay and

burned some of Jim's diesel fuel. It was great, and would have taken a week on a sailboat in light air. Somewhere I have heard, "there is a boat for all seasons". Susie and I treated Jim to a birthday dinner at the Tide's Inn in Carter's Creek. The Tide's Inn is an old historic hotel that looks like it was part of the days of the film, "Dirty Dancing". It has such character.

After we left Jim's, we drove to Newport News, VA and had a great tour of the Mariner's Muesuem and then headed further south down to the port town of New Burn, NC. We stayed the night in a riverfront hotel and had the chance to visit some of the historical buildings, eat great seafood and, of course, walk the docks and look at boats. The next day we headed out to Charleston to attend a wedding of an old family friend. We flew Chase, our son, into Charleston to participate in the festivities, and of course we ate lots of seafood, walked the docks and looked at boats. Are you seeing a pattern here?

For more pictures of the trip go to:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cstewartphotos/ChesapeakeToCharleston?authkey=Gv1sRgCOvQxrCEouelKQ#