May 1999

On CAMELOT

...Tuesday

I arrived in Ft. Meyers Tuesday morning. We set sail in the early afternoon for Picnic Island arriving there in time to enjoy a pleasant sunset. I was ready for a rest and excited about sailing again. The excitement blunted the fatigue for much of the first day.


...Wednesday

The sail to Useppa.


...Thursday

Thursday was a anchor, write, read and sleep day. Armour and Pam went exploring and I never left the boat.


...Friday

Friday we sailed the length of Charlotte Bay.


 

...Saturday

rainbow around the sun from CAMELOT’S deck

Nature will, from time to time, show her mysteries. We almost missed this one. It is important to remember to look up.

Saturday, we were sailing back to Useppa Island from the top of Charlotte Bay when the Tour Boat came by to take pictures of CAMELOT. We were talking when one of the tourists looked up and saw the rainbow. It formed a complete circle around the sun. I have never seen anything like it before. Everybody scrambled for cameras and videos.

The majority of land-based architecture is horizontal-focused. It shields people too much from the variety of nature and takes away the habit of looking up or down. Getting on the water always reminds me of what we are missing everyday in our human-built environments. Architecture that is done well enhances the view of nature - it does not destroy nor obscure it. While it may make sense to attenuate some of the extremes of sound, smell, temperature and light, it is not right to level off everything into one monotonous, bland environment that does not inform its users of what is happening in the larger world. This is one reason so many consider much of the built environment “dead.” “Living” architecture lets wind, light, shade and shadows in making change and time integral aspects of the space.

One of the favorite spots in the Palo Alto KnOwhere Store is the opening glass dome because it brings nature back inside to what otherwise, would be an impoverished place. People are often shocked and excited when they see the dome and this is sad - it should not be such a unique feature. It sould not be so easy to please...

CAMELOT is living architecture because she is always responding to a dynamic, ever changing, environment. Yes, you are sheltered from certain aspects of the environment and she is a tool that enables you to accomplish work within it, but, you cannot evade or not interact with the environment. This provides context and place.


...Sunday

 

One of the pleasures of going sailing is meeting people who have built their own boats and use them to build a life around and find adventure.

Sunday, as we were finishing off breakfast omelets, Frank Schooley came over by dingy and invited us to visit CONCUBINE a Chinese Junk he started rebuilding 20 years ago. He and his wife, Doreene, have lived on her and traveled all over the Caribbean, the Bahamas and parts of South America.

CONCUBINE is a fine example of the classic Junk, a very seaworthy and livable cruising solution.

She, like CAMELOT, is all teak and built in Hong Kong in the early 60’s. She was in very poor condition when Frank started working on her - structural members rotted out and unable to sail and even too weak to be transported.

Frank tells the story, when he was replacing ribs at the New Orleans docks, of the old timers coming around and saying “you are wasting your time, she will never float again - the best thing to do is to make a lot of teak ashtrays.”

Frank just gritted his teeth and kept on working. Unfortunately, in life, “wise” advise is often like that. Instead of using hard-won experience to help someone build a dream, it is used to kill dreams. The cynics are always right - they have every reason on their side - and much of history. They are right until they are wrong. Then it’s “wrong” big time. How many dreams have gone by the wayside because “good” solid advise was followed? I know that we would not have CAMELOT today if we had listened to it. Nor would we have built the business we have which still does not entirely make “good business sense.”

Today, CONCUBINE is a solid boat with 20 years of memories that the “experts” would have denied her along with Frank, Doreen and their daughter. It is tragic how much of human experience is still like this. This is the misuse, or the non-knowledgeable use, of so called “knowledge.”

details of CONCUBINE on a Sunday morning

On the water, you meet many people who live a different lifestyle than the majority. Often they make their living designing, repairing building, delivering, chartering, buying, restoring and selling boats.

This way, avocation is blended with occupation and one’s boat is one’s calling card. Home goes where you do. I know several who lived for years onboard, and when buying a land-based home, picked one where their boat can be “10 feet from the back door.” This is what Captain Armour and Pam did and what Frank and Doreen did. This life style does not think of “job” and security as the average does; it is more entrepreneurial. More based on opportunity and interest. More independent.

This lifestyle requires a high level of independent judgment. To start, you are almost always told that you are wrong and what you want to do is impossible or worse... And, of course, going into these strange waters is often dangerous and there are few good charts. Society does not provide good guidance on how to break its prevailing conventions. So, not only independent judgment is necessary but “good” judgment because you are going to suffer your own mistakes with little social safety net to help out. There will always be many “I told you so” comments to add flavor.

There are rewards, however. Unique experiences, a lifetime of pursuing those things that truly interest you and the sturdy confidence that come from having exercised real choice and paid for both the good and bad times.

 


...Monday

Concubine sails home:

We move to the back of Useppa Island:


...Tuesday

Tuesday was a get ready for guests day. Captain Armour and Pam working on CAMELOT, me making notes for the meeting.


...Wednesday

The Inn at Useppa Island 7:30 am

Early morning meetings. 1:00 pm leaving. Patsy at 4:30 and a good storm. We motored back to Picnic Island in a world that can and went and a rainbow that lasted several hours.


...Thursday

Return to the dock. Diner. Packing to leave.


...Friday

Return to Hilton Head. A Critical meeting. Getting into the pace.

 


Posted June 5, 1999

revised June 5, 1999

(note: this document is about 30% finished

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