The Jack G. Jackson II

I may be new at sailing, but my father’s family has been at it for generations. My great-grandfather was a sailor and later had a sail loft in Astoria, Oregon. My grandfather fished his way through college before he became a civil engineer. My dad was in the Navy during World War II and for as long as I can remember, he wanted a sailboat. My mother got seasick on Navy Pier in Chicago. Now for those of you who are not familiar with this structure, Navy Pier is a concrete peninsula. It doesn’t move, but mom got seasick on it and so she wouldn’t let dad buy a boat. I have never understood the logic of this as I know several men whose wives don’t like being on the water but they let their guys have a boat to play on.

Anyway, dad always wanted a boat and always wanted to sail. He bought a sextant and learned to use it in the hope that someday he would get to use it at sea. There many weekends when I was growing up in Chicago when dad would take me out to Belmont Harbor or Montrose Harbor and we would spent the day watching boats come in and go out. Dad would point out sloops and cutters, ketches and yawls all the while knowing that he would never actually own one of his own. Dad died in 1980 without ever getting to go out sailing.

So when we bought our boat, we first thought of renaming it the Jack G. Jackson so that dad could in some small way go with us. Contrary to popular belief, boats are not inanimate objects and they have very definite ‘views’ about the names they bear. When we consulted Fiddler about a possible name change, we were told in no uncertain terms that her name was Fiddler and that was fine with her thank you so very much! So much for that idea.

So, when we bought our dinghy, we named it the Jack G. Jackson. Now in Maine, most yachtsmen find fine and fancy names for their boats. Whole articles have been written about the names recreational boaters have given their boats. Most of the lobstermen and scallopers name their boats after their wives or their girlfriends or some favorite family member, so naming the dink after dad was really very traditional.

Well, an our loyal readers from last year know, the eight foot pram we bought as a dinghy proved too small a craft for someone of my magnificent stature and we have bought a new Zodiac inflatable which is a better fit. We have therefore taken dad’s name off the pram and today I went up to the local sign painter to get a name plate for the Jack G. Jackson II. The man likes signs. He put one on the tiller of his own boat which read “The Hun”. I like a man who thinks like that. Our new name plates should be ready Thursday. Dad can still sail with us, but in another incarnation.

As an afterthought, I considered buying some brass roundhead woodscrews and gluing the heads on the two name plates. I thought that we might make people wonder about the nameplates apparently fastened to an inflatable boat with woodscrews. I like to make folks wonder. Kathy says this is probably more trouble than it’s worth, but I can dream. I suppose that one of us has to be the designated adult this life and I guess it’s Kathy. I like that arrangement.

Dave