harpermurphy
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Re:Concretia/Onaygorah - 2009/01/20 03:14
When Paco came across the hull he made a deal with the city to purchase the hull with visions of restoring her. Apparantly they literally chopped the ice out of the hull and simply waited for the spring thaw to mover her. When I got involved she was tied up at the draw bridge on the causeway between RMC and Kingston Proper and at that time the restoration was pretty much complete.
In the spring of 82 we moved her down to a mooring at Prinyers Cove aways up from Picton. From there we did sea trials most of the summer and one of my most memorable trips was in heavy fog. We always used to sail down and around Main Duck Island darting in and out of the sea lanes and I remember clearly hearing the fog horns of ships we couldnt see other than on radar. I was in the wheel house with Paco and asking what would happen if we ever collided with a large vessel being made of "rock". He simply grinned, "if they hit us midship, they "might" roll us but could not break us.... if we hit them we'd plough right through them." That's just one of many memories I have. It seems to me the hull was 18inchs thick on the sides and 24 inches at the keel but it was a long time ago. I know the engine came from the old Picton Ferry. Under full sail with a good wind I think our top speed was 7 knots. She was just sooooo heavy. But she plowed through the water smoothly.
We were all offered $50,000 'buy-ins' to become travelling crew but I didn't have that kind of cash back then as an 18 year old. We had many many great times that summer and I remember how sad I was when everyone left. I remember venturing up to the top of the main mast (I'm thinking 110 ft) and remember how petrified I was. There was a slight roll maybe 5/10 degrees but up there that was a 80foot travel back and forth. I remember Paco teaching us never to grab the sail lines when we come about and on one occasion we were in fairly rough weather when one of the female "apprentices" who came with us for the weekend did just that on the real main sail. It literally lifted her right off the deck and I grabbed her legs as she went over the side. The boom reached its limit with her shins the only part on the rail and her hanging on for dear life and me hanging on to her. We yanked her back in but sure got a lesson on appreciating safety that day. Paco simply put it. You fall over your done. It was too rough to launch a safety boat and by the time you turn a vessel around in those seas finding you would be virtually impossible. Simple as that.
When the Maria Asumpta which was made of wood sank in the tall ship race in 1984 in all of 45 seconds I often wondered how fast the Onaygorah would last if she swamped. I had heard a rumour she went down from an old friend and I truly felt sick to my stomach.
I travelled back to the restaurant at prinyers cove where the marina is in 85 or 86 and tried to find out more information about her whereabouts but they didn't know anything more than the rumour of her going down.
I did flip open a travel magazine one time when I was working in Alberta (88) and lo and behold the Onaygorah was sitting there in a picture advertising the Dominican Republic but who knows how old the picture was at that time or even if it was the Dominican for sure.
The true fate of the Onaygorah is a mystery to me after all these years but it is nice to share some memories. I'm hoping someone else stumbles upon this that maybe crewed on her. I currently rediscovered an old friend that was with us and that's what led me to google Onaygorah. Hope this is interesting. Cheers.
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