John,
Off course here - but the Morgan 60 was not designed by Charlie Morgan (not part of the Out Island Design) - before we bought the boat I called him and he was typical Charlie - brusk - saying he had nothing to do with that design. She was a weatherly boat for a schooner and she would haul the mail on a broad reach. The most amazing thing about her was when we first bought here in Annapolis and sailed her to Houston. We hit the Atlantic coming out of Beaufort on a beautiful July 5th day - perfect weather - well - till later that day when the storms starting rolling off the Piedmonts.....45-50 knot winds for 6 days with 10-12 ft seas right on the nose.....in all of that time - with us going against the wind and current (motoring - it was a delivery after all - I had to get back to work) we never took green water across the deck. At one point getting around Frying pan Shoals we were very near the Gulf Stream at that point and we were doing about 2 knots with the wind, waves and current fighting us ever step of the way - for most of the day - until we cleared the shoal and turned towards the shore.....it was rough 6 days till we got to Florida coast - really smooth sailing all the way down to Key West - spent two days there and on a beautiful day we set out for Galveston roads. Insurance required we stay within 90 miles of shore so we had to head towards Tampa. Thinking this part of the trip we would be on a broad reach headed home.....WRONG. A front came thru and for 3 days we had 30-40 knot winds on the nose with 8-10 ft seas......arrrrgh. Finally the front passed and weather cleared - I mean cleared - no wind - the Gulf like glass with 80-95 degree temps - sweltering hot .......from Mobil to Galveston no wind.....when we turned to head into Galveston we got wind and sailed home to Seabrook, TX. 17 day trip with most of it in storms. I learned to love that boat. She never let us down and was always a joy to sail. The two of us could handle the boat with no issues. She was wonderful. Sold her - one of the saddest days of my life - I regret it to this day!!!!! I think they only made 11 of those boats and I think there are only 5 left. One is in pieces in Florida, one in the Caribbean, one in Thailand and my old boat in South America..... I cannot find the others.
Anyway - I promise to go back to RVing now - but your boat brought back all those old memories....
I apologize to those not interested in sailing....sailors love to tell their stories.
Dennis
