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by Ethan L. Welch (Author)
The LaTrappe Creek Chronicles is a story of how a week of sailing with four friends became an annual event. Friends invited friends, fathers invited sons and eventually grandfathers invited grandsons-joining to create enduring memories of camaraderie and adventure. Thirty-five years later, the Society still sails for one week each year, but with some ten boats and a roster of over one hundred members. In these pages, we celebrate the sport of sailing-noting the range from racing small one design dinghies to cruising catamarans, from the America's Cup to the "Tucket Bucket". Jet travel and charter facilities worldwide afford new sailing grounds and catalyzed our group to sail in exotic venues and add on unique travel with spouses and friends. Unusual highlights include an audience with the Pope and treading the sacred burial grounds of the gods of Polynesia. The combination of sailing and travel brought a keen interest in history and ecology, long before saving the oceans became so critical. This is also a story of the robust education found while in the pursuit of the art and science of sailing: the discipline of proper anchoring; the joys of producing gourmet fare from a tiny galley; the spice of philosophy; the confrontation of political discourse; and examining and embracing the different views on economics and cosmic exploration. Most of these lessons cascading from the confines of a cockpit with brandy and cigars! The Chronicles is not a "how to" book, but there are usable observations for governance of such an organization as the LaTrappe Creek Historical and Ecological Society. There are "By-Laws" indelibly retained in the memory of the Commodore and established "Archives" to secure information that even the CIA or KGB could not access. Above all, these chronicles relate how all who have been a part of this sailing saga have experienced the joy of valued friends and unfortunately the sadness of burying old friends at sea. And Oh Yes! There is a real place called LaTrappe Creek and all the characters in this book are real.
