Dear Friend of CHARIAD:

We have our seasonal rituals – Thanksgiving, Christmas, 4th of July. April is a ritual month for me.

  • Boat work
  • Crew recruitment

I have to share one last image for our Friends who are not in Boston. The temperature is mostly in the 40s and we had a lot of rain last week. Most of the snow is gone though there are still piles everywhere.

Late March snow piles in Massachusetts 2015

This car was in Back Bay 10 days ago and has not been moved in months. There have been blocks and blocks of cars on the streets in Cambridge looking exactly like this for several months. OK – enough about snow. We are into Spring!

Crew Recruitment

CHARIAD has a little crew turn over each season so getting the word out to our Friends of CHARIAD and asking for crew recommendations is one of my April rituals.

If you know of a friend, relative, acquaintance, co-worker, gym rat, etc. who might want to join the CHARIAD team, please give them my email and suggest they check out www.CHARIAD.com  If you have a forum where you could post a note, that would be great as well. We do a lot of training on the boat, so super experience is not a requirement. But some experience is necessary and we are only looking for folks who are able to make a commitment to a significant number of races. We are not looking for folks who can only do one or two races or can be called to fill in. There are a number of former regular crew members who cannot make a larger commitment but can fill in where needed.

Migration to Boat Yard

My other April ritual is showing up at the boat yard for a few days of spring boat work. This can actually be a fun outing and some of our non-racing Friends enjoy coming the boat yard for part of a Saturday. We are fussing with all of the cleanup and brightening up activities that are needed before the boat goes in the water. Roughly a 10 – 2 schedule on Saturday – Sunday if the weather is better. We will go to the yard this weekend is the weather cooperates.

Clearly, the folks who help in the spring are getting preferential invitations when we get into Social Sailing season and our social activities off the water.

If you could come out for a day, let me know and I will include you in the emails about our yard schedule. They will not go out to the full Friends list.

CHARIAD is in the Beverly Harbor Marina at the foot of the bridge from Salem to Beverly on the Beverly side. A few of our gang went to the yard on Saturday to get the ladders and supplies to the boat so everything would be there for the start of the boat prep. I had not seen the boat since she was taken out of the water and I always have a repressed apprehension about how she will survive the winter.

The boat looks great. All of the work that was done last spring makes CHARIAD look bright and fresh. The bottom looks great. A little cleaning is all that is needed to get her in the water.

I will leave you with another part of our April ritual. Below is a ditty is recited each spring by the CHARIAD crew as we transition from winter to a summer of fun on the water.

A SPRING PARABLE

For six months of snow and cold,
The Mighty CHARIAD sleeps.
Only her dreams are bold.
No winches are grinding, no sails are flapping
No waves are crashing and no orders a’ shouting.
The CHARIAD crew passes the long winter nights
snug in their beds.
Visions of tacks, of jibes, of starts and of finishes
dance in their heads.

Gradually the days grow longer.
February becomes March, and March becomes April.
Coolness is still on the air, but there is a stirring.
Even before the first robin is near,
The CHARIAD crew magically appear,
As if by some primordial instinct,
Mighty CHARIAD awakes with a start.

The crew sets themselves to polishing, painting,
rigging and roping.
By the 1st of May in each year, a renewed and refitted
CHARIAD appears.
With a splash and a dash, she throws off the dock lines
“Grind Ken, pull Bobby, jibe Herb, trim Peg” is heard
She glides away to sailing’s call
and a great summer for all.

My best to you. I hope to see you soon.

Rick