“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”
– Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

Tucker’s 2016 Regatta Invitation

So far this summer, there hasn’t been much activity out on the bay.  Not boat activity.  Not sailing.  Maybe it’s a tide or wind thing or maybe it’s weather related.  More likely, Oysterville sailors have been busy with other things.

Yesterday, however, some of the fleet was in evidence.  With the annual Oysterville Regatta scheduled for next weekend, skippers were beginning to ready their boats and take a practice run or two.  If “practice run” is the right expression.  Being a landlubber of the first order, I’m not at all certain.

Regatta Day 2012

What I am sure of is that there is absolutely nothing as pleasurable to me as seeing those sails out on Willapa Bay.  Even though today’s regatta participants are manning 14-foot lasers – a  far cry from the fleet of 30-foot plungers sailed by the oystermen of the 19^th century regattas – those sails on the bay tug at every one of my nostalgic heartstrings.

How must it have been in those days before gasoline motors and diesel engines?  Back when the splash of an oar or the creak of the rigging were the dominant sounds, save voices, out on Shoalwater Bay?  Back when most families owned at least one boat, much as most now own a car?  Back when kids learned to manage on water almost as early as they learned to walk on shore?

Annual Regatta c. 1870s

There must have been a different rhythm to life back then when most activities depended on wind and tide.  Nothing so hurried as now.  Nothing so frantic.  Nothing so bombastic and intrusive as today.  Or perhaps those thoughts are just wishful thinking.  No matter.  It’s almost time to kick back and enjoy the Annual Oysterville Regatta.  High tide next Saturday at the foot of Clay Street.  See you there.