fortuna

Last week I went to see my childhood sailboat, a 1927 Herreshoff Fisher Island. It's been on the hard for close to a decade following an encounter with an arson at a south side Chicago boatyard.It was as if I was visiting a retired racing dog or an old timer who didn't much care to leave his porch swing. Charred and missing planks, a spar and a deck, she was still grand.

The plan is to get her ready to launch by next year. It's possible. And things should move forward as more people have been enlisted to help. It's become a community project of sorts, just like when I was a kid and we did more sanding than sailing.

While built as a cruising boat for a family of four, 'Fortuna,' a 45' sloop, has the pedigree and design to compete. She's quick, graceful and always reliable. Even with 68 ribs stricken with dry rot she never failed us...took on a lot of water though.

Fortuna might be an old technology, but she has value to those who always want to have something to fix. And like my daddy always says, "She's a good old boat." But that was then, for now.