They Live Among Us. Dick Knapp

Transcription

1 They Live Among Us Dick Knapp Dick and Sheelagh Knapp have been residents of Pine Island Cove since This story will be primarily about Dick, as Sheelagh has her own very compelling story which shall be the subject of another article in a few months. I hope you ll find it will be worth the wait. Dick Knapp has been sailing since he was eleven years old. He started racing in his early twenties. Since it takes years and years to become a decent sailboat racer, and Dick s been at it for nearly 50 years now, he should be a pretty decent racer in a few more years. Men have been sailing for over 8000 years, perhaps much longer. Excavations in Mesopotamia confirm that fact. Men have sailed for many reasons, including exploration, commerce, fishing, war, and recreation. 1

2 With three quarters of the globe covered in water we were meant to sail. Some of the ships that leave port never return. The sea floors of the world are littered with sailing ships of all kinds. War and weather account for most of the ships on the bottom. Lake Huron, one of the Great Lakes, is an inland sea, with average depth of 195 feet, and a maximum depth of 750 feet. This is where Dick loves to sail. On a Saturday morning In July of 1978 you couldn t have asked for a nicer day on Lake Huron. Dick was happy to have his son Jim, age 14, and his wife Sheelagh as part of his crew of six for a race from Sarnia, Ontario up to Alpena, Michigan, about 150 miles. As the race began they popped their colorful spinnaker and with a strong southerly wind and a following sea they were off to the races, literally. Their boat was cutting through the waves, giving them an exhilarating ride. Even with the breeze they could feel the stifling heat around them and they could see the building cumulous clouds growing in front of them. In the far distance they saw a thin line of black stretching from one side of the lake to the other. That band grew steadily as the day wore on. By late that afternoon the black area had expanded to nearly half of the sky so it was clearly time to take down the spinnaker and cleat themselves to the boat. As they approached Saginaw Bay after sunset they encountered a wind shift and with it a change in wave direction. About 10pm they noticed 2

3 lightning to the Northwest. Lake Huron was about to awaken. It hit them at 11:00pm, hard. The boat heeled all the way over. The mast slapped the water with a bang. The crew was tethered to the boat so they stayed on board. Anything that wasn t tied down had disappeared over the side. This was a CAL 25, not a giant sailboat, but at 25 feet not a little boat either. The weighted keel brought the boat back up again, and once again the wind pushed her hard over on her side. The winds were at 80 knots, over 90 mph. No land could be seen. The only light was from brilliant forks of lightning punctuated with crashing thunder. By the time the second blast of wind had hit they had gotten rid of the main sail. Even with all sails down they were doing five to six knots. The wind was blowing so hard that the white caps on the six foot waves were blown off. Then it turned cold, a sign that the freezing air near the tops of the massive 40,000 foot thunderstorms was avalanching down on top of them. It was a microburst, the source of tremendous straight line winds that can knock down fully grown trees. After a long night of fighting to survive they managed to get the main sail up in a reefed position, and along with a storm jib they limped in to Alpena. It was a quiet Sunday morning. The people from the local churches had come down to the water to pray for the racers. Easing along the breakwater at about 10:00am they quietly crossed the finish line. As the gun went off, they realized, exhausted, that they had not only survived but had won the race. 3

4 The same weather hit all of the boats. Some had been demasted. Through the night some of the ships in the race had veered off into other ports. They all survived. Lake Huron was sleeping again. Dick and his friend Barry Matherly were racing in The Double Handed, two men with a full compliment of sails on a 240 mile course from Port Huron, Michigan across Lake Huron to Goderich, Ontario, and back across the lake to Rogers City, Michigan. They were racing in a Tanzer 24, flying their spinnaker and making good time heading for Ontario. Around 9pm instinct told them to turn on their radio. The weather service were forecasting a gale with winds in excess of 65 knots (about 75 mph). The rules allow boats to go into a harbor and anchor in the event of bad weather. They headed for Harbor Beach, Michigan to wait out the storm. There were 66 boats and their crews on the big lake that night. They called the other boats and told them they were going in. Around 11:00pm it was still a gorgeous night and they were regretting their decision. At 5:00am on Sunday the gale hit. Dick and Barry were blown right out of the harbor even with their anchors set and sails stowed. All the rest of the day boats were drifting into the harbor with torn sails and broken masts. On Monday it seemed calm enough to venture out again. They sailed on to Rogers City where they learned that a 42 foot catamaran had been found turtled, completely upside down with the crew still strapped in their chairs, tangled in the lines, drowned. 4

5 Eleven out of 66 boats finished. Racing on a body of water like Lake Huron is not for beginners. Dick and Sheelagh have a home in the Les Cheneaux Islands in Lake Huron. The Les Cheneaux area lies east of the Mackinac Bridge along the northern shore of Lake Huron. Thirty-six islands provide sheltered channels and bays within the Straits of Mackinac. Their good friends here in Pine Island Cove, Chuck Albright and Lea Brunson also happen to be neighbors and fellow sailors in the Les Cheneaux Islands. On July 9, 1994, Chuck and Dick were part of a crew of four on the Government Island Race near the Les Cheneaux Islands. They were out in the Straights of Mackinac, and running dead last. The winds were blowing 20 to 25 knots. They decided to try popping up the spinnaker, which in hindsight may not have been the best decision. The problem is that while a spinnaker can give a big push, it can also pull the nose of the boat right under. And that is exactly what happened. They were out of control. The boat went over on its side and half filled with water. But the boat was still being pulled through the water by 25 knots of wind into the spinnaker. The boom was crashing back and forth. Then they jibed all the way over to the other side and the rest of the boat filled up, to within a couple inches of the top of the cockpit. Chuck grabbed a nearby ice chest, threw the sandwiches out and started bailing. Ultimately they were able to get enough water out to get to the bilge pump running. They finally limped into port, wet and exhausted, but alive. 5

6 They still had a pretty important issue on their plate. Later that day Chuck and Lea were scheduled to get married at the Knapp s home. A change into some dry clothes made that goal achievable, and it was accomplished. Sailors don t let much interfere with racing. Occasional bumps and dings happen when sailboats are in close proximity, and jockeying for position. Sometimes those close encounters are very physical. Dick was at the helm and his boat was fighting hard near the finish line of a race. But he was on a collision course with another boat, which had the right of way. He was rapidly closing on the other boat at a 90 degree angle. His crew was trying to swing the boom over to give him steering to pass behind the other boat. That s when the line around the winch drum got bound up and they couldn t pull it free. Meanwhile, the other boat was looming dead ahead. Unless one of them veered off Dick would slice right up the middle of other boat. He remembers the screaming of the other captain. Dick s sailboat was heeled over, blowing spray across the deck, racing toward the other boat. The last sight he remembered was seeing the wide eyes of the other crew as his boat sliced into their boat, climbing up over their deck, cutting the stainless steel shroud lines like string. His bow ended up half way across the beam of the other boat. Nobody was hurt, and Dick has no memory of the rest of the event. He does remember there were two badly damaged sailboats. 6

7 Another collision, not Dick s fault, did result in injury to a Pine Island Cove resident. Lea Brunson was part of Dick s crew that weekend. They were at Put-In-Bay on Lake Erie for three days of racing. Dick s sons Rob, age 10 and Scott age 11, were part of the crew. On the second day of racing their boat was about 25 yards behind the pack. Lea was up on the bow, on her hands and knees getting ready to put up the spinnaker. Suddenly on the port side, a boat appeared out of nowhere on a collision course. Lea yelled to Dick, We re gonna hit!! It crashed into their bow, cutting their bow pulpit, where Lea was stationed. The collision dislocated her jaw. It also cut the bow forestays holding up the mast. The other captain saw Lea s visor go flying and the crash was so violent he thought it was Lea s head. He was sick, thinking they had killed someone. They returned to shore to lick their wounds and get Lea some treatment. The collision had torn her jaw requiring 18 months of therapy. Dick earned the title Captain Crunch for that one, and still carries that moniker. Dick clearly loves racing. He describes the sheer physical challenge and excitement, wind whipping the sails, plunging through the waves, the sights, sounds and smells of sails snapping, hardware banging, spray blowing, and the sun shining. Then there s the mental aspect, reading the wind, the competition, tactical and strategic decisions pitting your skill against that of others. All that comes together at the end of a race, converging on the finish line. Sailboat racing is an addiction unknown to most of us. 7

8 Some of the dangers of sailboat racing come in large sizes. Dick, and his crew were in a night race around Lake St. Clair. At the head of the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair is also a heavily used freighter channel with freighters inbound and outbound from the upper Great Lakes. This particular race required three crossings of the freighter channel in a very narrow passage. Dick saw a freighter to his starboard and while he was closing, it did not seem to be a factor. His crew asked him if he saw the freighter and Dick acknowledged that he had it in sight. A few minutes later they asked him if he was sure he had the freighter in sight and he said, Yes, I have the freighter in sight! A few seconds later they grabbed him and pulled him around the sail and screamed at him NO, DO YOU SEE THAT FREIGHTER NOW??!!!! They were about 60 feet from a giant steel hull bearing down on them on the port side. He had been watching a freighter much further away on the starboard side and never saw the one about to crush them. The freighter captain was not happy. Sailing presents a multitude of conditions and experiences, exhilaration to despair, gale force winds to dead calm. The dead calm conditions sometimes come with flies, thousands of flies. And a boat can be becalmed in such conditions for hours. In a race in 1979 from Port Huron up to Alpena, Dick was so far ahead that he couldn t even see the boats 8

9 behind him. They had already sailed three quarters of the way to the finish. Then the wind just shut off. The sails were just flapping and banging. They began seeing the other boats, little dots behind them bringing the wind. But they were in a wind hole. The other boats caught up and went around them while they languished in the invisible wind hole, being eaten by flies. They never caught up. One favorite project of Dick s is participating in his yacht clubs sailing school. The week long school is oriented toward youngsters 8 to 15 years old. In addition to teaching them to sail and race with Sunfishes and Optimus 8 ft sailboats, they provide opportunities for camping, basketball, and other games. Dick s parents never sailed, but they started him out in a Sunfish. Teaching the young sailors is his way of giving back some of the enjoyment he has derived from sailing. Back here in Florida, some of you may have seen Dick and Sheelagh s sailboat, Knapp Time, docked on the saltwater canal. To them, a leisurely sailing cruise out to Red Fish Pass, or Cayo Costa with a cold beer or two, and a relaxed return in the late afternoon is the type of experience that help make their time here very, very special. Many of us have done such voyages under motor power but the basic simplicity of moving under sail, as men have done for millennia is extremely rewarding. Of course, Dick had and has a life besides sailboat racing. Dick taught Junior High and High School for about two years in Michigan. He earned his masters degree at Eastern Michigan University. He found a 9

10 home at Oakland Community College where he taught Sociology and Behavioral Science for 35 years, acting as Department Head for 25 of those years. He is justifiably proud of having won the Outstanding Faculty award twice at Oakland Community College. This has been but a brief glance at a small part of Dick s life. Like all of us, he has had many experiences, adventures, joys and sorrows. Dick enjoys life, and he lives among us. Steve Russell 10