Patty and Harry "Skipper" Staton were old friends from Hingham days; in fact, I proposed to Sarah during a New Year's Eve party at their house and there we announced our engagement. We invited them to cruise the Northwest waters with us and chartered a sailboat. We went to sea through the large lock, sailed to Port Madison for the first night, then on to Gig Harbor. Patty asked: "Where are the buoys?"
In Puget Sound and most NW waters we can sail close to shore because the water deepens rapidly. In their familiar northeastern waters, reefs, rocks and shoals require aids to navigation. I explained the relative safety of our seaways. Then Patty asked: "How do you know where you're going?" I answered: "Going south, Mt. Rainier is on the left, going north it's on the right." However, I drew lines on a chart and pricked off our positions for reassurance.
Another summer we joined them in Massachusetss and sailed from Buzzards Bay to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. There, indeed, there were buoys, beacons and lighthouses, rocks and shoals, fog, fast currents and sandbars. Skipper proposed 1/2 hour wheel watches but became very nervous as we approached the tricky Woods Hole passage when Sarah had the wheel. He suggested I take over but it was obvious Sarah would have none of that. Needless to say, the passage was otherwise uneventful.
Our third cruise with the Statons was out of Antigua. One of the three couples scheduled to make the trip cancelled on short notice and we were delighted to substitute. The yacht was a 60 foot sloop with captain and cook, slept eight in four cabins, had a desalination system and was very comfortable. The blue Caribbean was warm, the weather good and the company pleasant. Our only issue was: all three men wanted to take the helm, especially Frank, who had been a quartermaster in his WW II navy service. Skipper had to persuade him to share the wheelman duties.
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