Today I went sailing aboard Haven, a Cape Dory 31 out of Mattapoisett. It is owned by friends Larry and Carrie Van Etten. They have had the boat for a few years, so it really was time for me to go for a sail. This was the first time on a 31 since I videotaped the very first one was launched in Marion back in the 80's. I used to shoot all the Cape Dory videos.

It was really odd to see what in my minds eye was hull number one, fresh from the factory, and what I saw today was a twenty year old boat.

She sailed woderfully. We had a bit of a breeze out of the south, @ 10 knots, just right for an easy sail. The cutter rig was quite handy, and I can see real advantages to using the staysail and a reefed main in any serious wind. It was a good sized 31 footer, with loads of teak.

We sailed over to Falmouth, near Silver Beach, then tacked and headed staright down Buzzards Bay. We sailed past West Island when the wind died, but we had been underway for three plus hours, so we powere back in.

On the way in Larry noticed a flash of white on the water. We circled around, to see a fish on the surface, belly up. As we approached he dove, so that we could not make out what was going on. A minute later Larry turned as we saw the fish again. Coming up more slowly I could see that the fish was a bluefish, appeard to be perfectly intact, but was belly up in the water, with one fin sticking straight up in the air. He had all fins, and appeared in fine shape. He looked straight at me, and submerged again. It was a very odd thing. He appeard fine, but was doing something that only a sick or hurt fish might do. We did not see him again, andf made it back to the anchorage without any more distractions.

Sometimes I have seen very strange things when sailing, this was one of them.

Dana