The Voyage of Yumei

Dream Fulfilled, my mother has gotten a small boat.

A family friends father had a heart attack and they wanted to liquidate his things so he could possibly move into a retirement home...anyway, about the boat.

It is a 9-foot fiberglass dingy with a sail. As my mother told me, this is a good thing that it has oars because if there is no wind, you can put your arms to the work. As opposed to a Sunfish type of boat, if you're without wind, you're stuck.

she got the boat for $50. the original price was $100 but they couldnt find the sails so....
It need some repair work to some rotted wood at the stern and fiberglass holes in the bottom.
She worked hard to repair these problems then painted the inside of the boat.

We planned to bring it up to Deep Creek maryland just to float and row around in the lake, but Dr. Hymas suggested that we craft a make shift sail out of a tarp.
We cut one up, and sewed it using the same old sewing machine that my mom had used to mend the sails on Zephros when they were sailing in central america. I think it brought back some good memories of her youth.



We rode up to deep Creek Friday night and had the maiden voyage on saturday morning. The lake was a bit cold and the wind was scarce but it was perfect weather to learn on. She taught me the names for all the sheets (ropes) or a sail boat, names for maneuvers and even the jolly rodger song.

I also got to look at the photo album with all her pictures from the five years living on Zephros. It was inspiring and made me want to keep a little picture of the boat along with me anywhere so that if i was ever feeling boring square, I could look at my mom sailing through the ocean and be inspired to go on an adventure.

As tons of speed boats, water skiers and jet skis zoomed by us, we were enjoying the unique feeling of capturing the wind and using it to move. We also enjoyed the wake created by the boats as they created a rough sea taste.

At night, we enjoyed making fake owl calls by the camp fire and watching other campers flash their lights up into the trees looking for the owls.

great time with my mom, and awsome stories about her sailing days.
PS. Yumei means Dream in Japanese. We called it Dream because it was her dream to sail again and to have a boat that she could operate alone and drive in the Van.