Losing a sailing buddy

I got an e-mail last night from the daughter of an old friend, a former boss, telling me that he had died. I worked for him summers during college, at a sailing school/rental operation. He was a high school teacher and did that in the summer. Working there was what made me a sailor, and I have told everybody for years how grateful I am that I stumbled into that job because it changed my life. I say stumbled, because I got the job when I ran into another old high school teacher at an airport. He was on his way home from inspecting the Annapolis Sailing School operation with an eye toward opening a franchise in my home town. He offered a summer job and I got it. The guy who just died was a really good sailor. As a high school kid, he had sailed his 20' 1922 wooden gaff rigged sloop from Sturgeon Bay, WI to Bay City, MI when his dad moved t\for a new job as a naval architect. I loved to contemplate those parents saying to their son, "Sure, sail your boat across Lake Michigan and around into Lake Huron." That was before VHF-FM, GPS, chart plotters, or cell phones. He had no marine radio, just a compass and the standard charting tools. And a bilge pump; the 1922 woody was also leaky. But he made it, and the boat is now in his son's care in NY. Once I had sailed with him to a northern port to deliver a boat for charter. He was busy with some chore and directed me to coil the mainsheet & hang it. I coiled it and hung it. A few minutes later he re-coiled and hung it. My coils had been uneven. He did not say a word about it and didn't know that I had seen it. But I learned a lesson--do it right, make it look good--and I remember that every time I coil a line. This friend was a bit prickly and some found him hard to get along with. But in my experience, sailors are all eccentric, and besides, I figured out a long time ago that we need to make allowances for our friends' quirks. He liked sailing, he liked boats, he was a good boss, and we got along. Tolerance is a virtue I can sometimes apply. (Cal connection: he later operated the sailing school through a local community college, and my Cal 20 was a donation that they sold off. There were two intervening owners before I got it). So there are two lessons here. One is to be tolerant because our friends are usually not much more perfect than we are. The second is that we learn lots of lessons from others, and we probably teach a lot of lessons through our own behavior and actions that we're not aware of. Chris Campbell

Sorry you lost your buddy and mentor. Thanks for the reminders of all that we learn from and teach to one another in ways that we often loose awareness of......is always good to remain mindful and grateful. Faith S/V Sea Jewel Squalicum Harbor, WA On 2017-12-12 09:37, ccampbell cc… [at] lsnm.org [Cal_Boats] wrote: > I got an e-mail last night from the daughter of an old friend, a former > boss, telling me that he had died. I worked for him summers during > college, at a sailing school/rental operation. He was a high school > teacher and did that in the summer. Working there was what made me a > sailor, and I have told everybody for years how grateful I am that I > stumbled into that job because it changed my life. I say stumbled, > because I got the job when I ran into another old high school teacher at > an airport. He was on his way home from inspecting the Annapolis Sailing > School operation with an eye toward opening a franchise in my home > town. He offered a summer job and I got it. > > The guy who just died was a really good sailor. As a high school kid, > he had sailed his 20' 1922 wooden gaff rigged sloop from Sturgeon Bay, > WI to Bay City, MI when his dad moved t\for a new job as a naval > architect. I loved to contemplate those parents saying to their son, > "Sure, sail your boat across Lake Michigan and around into Lake > Huron." That was before VHF-FM, GPS, chart plotters, or cell phones. > He had no marine radio, just a compass and the standard charting tools. > And a bilge pump; the 1922 woody was also leaky. But he made it, and > the boat is now in his son's care in NY. > > Once I had sailed with him to a northern port to deliver a boat for > charter. He was busy with some chore and directed me to coil the > mainsheet & hang it. I coiled it and hung it. A few minutes later he > re-coiled and hung it. My coils had been uneven. He did not say a word > about it and didn't know that I had seen it. But I learned a lesson--do > it right, make it look good--and I remember that every time I coil a line. > > This friend was a bit prickly and some found him hard to get along > with. But in my experience, sailors are all eccentric, and besides, I > figured out a long time ago that we need to make allowances for our > friends' quirks. He liked sailing, he liked boats, he was a good boss, > and we got along. Tolerance is a virtue I can sometimes apply. (Cal > connection: he later operated the sailing school through a local > community college, and my Cal 20 was a donation that they sold off. > There were two intervening owners before I got it). > > So there are two lessons here. One is to be tolerant because our > friends are usually not much more perfect than we are. The second is > that we learn lots of lessons from others, and we probably teach a lot > of lessons through our own behavior and actions that we're not aware of. > > Chris Campbell > > Links: ------ [1] https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Cal_Boats/conversations/messages/43959;_ylc=X3oDMTJyNDU0YXZtBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE2NDg1Njk1BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2NTc5MgRtc2dJZAM0Mzk1OQRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNycGx5BHN0aW1lAzE1MTMxMDAyNzY-?act=reply&messageNum=43959 [2] https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Cal_Boats/conversations/newtopic;_ylc=X3oDMTJmMjBncnZjBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE2NDg1Njk1BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2NTc5MgRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNudHBjBHN0aW1lAzE1MTMxMDAyNzY- [3] https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Cal_Boats/conversations/topics/43959;_ylc=X3oDMTM3MXFxYTF0BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE2NDg1Njk1BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2NTc5MgRtc2dJZAM0Mzk1OQRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawN2dHBjBHN0aW1lAzE1MTMxMDAyNzYEdHBjSWQDNDM5NTk- [4] https://yho.com/1wwmgg [5] https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Cal_Boats/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmYm5kbzUxBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE2NDg1Njk1BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2NTc5MgRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE1MTMxMDAyNzY- [6] https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Cal_Boats/members/all;_ylc=X3oDMTJncjk4ZzM2BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE2NDg1Njk1BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2NTc5MgRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2bWJycwRzdGltZQMxNTEzMTAwMjc2 [7] https://groups.yahoo.com/neo;_ylc=X3oDMTJlb2thN2IyBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE2NDg1Njk1BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2NTc5MgRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNnZnAEc3RpbWUDMTUxMzEwMDI3Ng-- [8] https://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/groups/details.html [9] https://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/

Sorry Chris, and thank you so much for sharing it and how much it shaped a part of your life. Helen Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android On Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 9:51 AM, fs… [at] torchlake.com [Cal_Boats]<Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> wrote: Sorry you lost your buddy and mentor. Thanks for the reminders of all that we learn from and teach to one another in ways that we often loose awareness of......is always good to remain mindful and grateful. Faith S/V Sea Jewel Squalicum Harbor, WA On 2017-12-12 09:37, ccampbell cc… [at] lsnm.org [Cal_Boats] wrote: I got an e-mail last night from the daughter of an old friend, a former boss, telling me that he had died. I worked for him summers during college, at a sailing school/rental operation. He was a high school teacher and did that in the summer. Working there was what made me a sailor, and I have told everybody for years how grateful I am that I stumbled into that job because it changed my life. I say stumbled, because I got the job when I ran into another old high school teacher at an airport. He was on his way home from inspecting the Annapolis Sailing School operation with an eye toward opening a franchise in my home town. He offered a summer job and I got it. The guy who just died was a really good sailor. As a high school kid, he had sailed his 20' 1922 wooden gaff rigged sloop from Sturgeon Bay, WI to Bay City, MI when his dad moved t\for a new job as a naval architect. I loved to contemplate those parents saying to their son, "Sure, sail your boat across Lake Michigan and around into Lake Huron." That was before VHF-FM, GPS, chart plotters, or cell phones. He had no marine radio, just a compass and the standard charting tools. And a bilge pump; the 1922 woody was also leaky. But he made it, and the boat is now in his son's care in NY. Once I had sailed with him to a northern port to deliver a boat for charter. He was busy with some chore and directed me to coil the mainsheet & hang it. I coiled it and hung it. A few minutes later he re-coiled and hung it. My coils had been uneven. He did not say a word about it and didn't know that I had seen it. But I learned a lesson--do it right, make it look good--and I remember that every time I coil a line. This friend was a bit prickly and some found him hard to get along with. But in my experience, sailors are! all eccentric, and besides, I figured out a long time ago that we need to make allowances for our friends' quirks. He liked sailing, he liked boats, he was a good boss, and we got along. Tolerance is a virtue I can sometimes apply. (Cal connection: he later operated the sailing school through a local community college, and my Cal 20 was a donation that they sold off. There were two intervening owners before I got it). So there are two lessons here. One is to be tolerant because our friends are usually not much more perfect than we are. The second is that we learn lots of lessons from others, and we probably teach a lot of lessons through our own behavior and actions that we're not aware of. Chris Campbell

Chris: I am sorry for your loss, but appreciated your story. As for coiling ropes, I can relate. I have sailed for over 50 years yet something as simple as coiling lines (especially on my 1969 Cal 34, Soufflé, in Portland, Oregon) remains something I feel I need to work on. P. From: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com [mailto:Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com] Sent: Tuesday, December 12, 2017 9:38 AM To: Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com Subject: [Cal_Boats] Losing a sailing buddy I got an e-mail last night from the daughter of an old friend, a former boss, telling me that he had died. I worked for him summers during college, at a sailing school/rental operation. He was a high school teacher and did that in the summer. Working there was what made me a sailor, and I have told everybody for years how grateful I am that I stumbled into that job because it changed my life. I say stumbled, because I got the job when I ran into another old high school teacher at an airport. He was on his way home from inspecting the Annapolis Sailing School operation with an eye toward opening a franchise in my home town. He offered a summer job and I got it. The guy who just died was a really good sailor. As a high school kid, he had sailed his 20' 1922 wooden gaff rigged sloop from Sturgeon Bay, WI to Bay City, MI when his dad moved t\for a new job as a naval architect. I loved to contemplate those parents saying to their son, "Sure, sail your boat across Lake Michigan and around into Lake Huron." That was before VHF-FM, GPS, chart plotters, or cell phones. He had no marine radio, just a compass and the standard charting tools. And a bilge pump; the 1922 woody was also leaky. But he made it, and the boat is now in his son's care in NY. Once I had sailed with him to a northern port to deliver a boat for charter. He was busy with some chore and directed me to coil the mainsheet & hang it. I coiled it and hung it. A few minutes later he re-coiled and hung it. My coils had been uneven. He did not say a word about it and didn't know that I had seen it. But I learned a lesson--do it right, make it look good--and I remember that every time I coil a line. This friend was a bit prickly and some found him hard to get along with. But in my experience, sailors are all eccentric, and besides, I figured out a long time ago that we need to make allowances for our friends' quirks. He liked sailing, he liked boats, he was a good boss, and we got along. Tolerance is a virtue I can sometimes apply. (Cal connection: he later operated the sailing school through a local community college, and my Cal 20 was a donation that they sold off. There were two intervening owners before I got it). So there are two lessons here. One is to be tolerant because our friends are usually not much more perfect than we are. The second is that we learn lots of lessons from others, and we probably teach a lot of lessons through our own behavior and actions that we're not aware of. Chris Campbell

Great story Chris and sorry for your loss. I love hearing stories about "old salts" and how they managed w/o all the high tech crap we have today. My favorite advice from an old salt (actually not that old but a guy who'd been sailing all his life) was about racing. He said don't worry about your screw ups, because no one sails a perfect race. It's how you deal with your screw ups that matters. Paul From: ccampbell cc… [at] lsnm.org [Cal_Boats] <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> To: Cal_Boats <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> Sent: Tue, Dec 12, 2017 12:38 pm Subject: [Cal_Boats] Losing a sailing buddy I got an e-mail last night from the daughter of an old friend, a former boss, telling me that he had died. I worked for him summers during college, at a sailing school/rental operation. He was a high school teacher and did that in the summer. Working there was what made me a sailor, and I have told everybody for years how grateful I am that I stumbled into that job because it changed my life. I say stumbled, because I got the job when I ran into another old high school teacher at an airport. He was on his way home from inspecting the Annapolis Sailing School operation with an eye toward opening a franchise in my home town. He offered a summer job and I got it. The guy who just died was a really good sailor. As a high school kid, he had sailed his 20' 1922 wooden gaff rigged sloop from Sturgeon Bay, WI to Bay City, MI when his dad moved t\for a new job as a naval architect. I loved to contemplate those parents saying to their son, "Sure, sail your boat across Lake Michigan and around into Lake Huron." That was before VHF-FM, GPS, chart plotters, or cell phones. He had no marine radio, just a compass and the standard charting tools. And a bilge pump; the 1922 woody was also leaky. But he made it, and the boat is now in his son's care in NY. Once I had sailed with him to a northern port to deliver a boat for charter. He was busy with some chore and directed me to coil the mainsheet & hang it. I coiled it and hung it. A few minutes later he re-coiled and hung it. My coils had been uneven. He did not say a word about it and didn't know that I had seen it. But I learned a lesson--do it right, make it look good--and I remember that every time I coil a line. This friend was a bit prickly and some found him hard to get along with. But in my experience, sailors are all eccentric, and besides, I figured out a long time ago that we need to make allowances for our friends' quirks. He liked sailing, he liked boats, he was a good boss, and we got along. Tolerance is a virtue I can sometimes apply. (Cal connection: he later operated the sailing school through a local community college, and my Cal 20 was a donation that they sold off. There were two intervening owners before I got it). So there are two lessons here. One is to be tolerant because our friends are usually not much more perfect than we are. The second is that we learn lots of lessons from others, and we probably teach a lot of lessons through our own behavior and actions that we're not aware of. Chris Campbell

Chris, My condolences to you and his family. And thanks for sharing, as always!!Jerry of Shpritz, Mother of All Cals (The California 24, 1958) On Tuesday, December 12, 2017 12:19 PM, "pw… [at] aol.com [Cal_Boats]" <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> wrote: Great story Chris and sorry for your loss. I love hearing stories about "old salts" and how they managed w/o all the high tech crap we have today.My favorite advice from an old salt (actually not that old but a guy who'd been sailing all his life) was about racing. He said don't worry about your screw ups, because no one sails a perfect race. It's how you deal with your screw ups that matters. Paul From: ccampbell cc… [at] lsnm.org [Cal_Boats] <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> To: Cal_Boats <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> Sent: Tue, Dec 12, 2017 12:38 pm Subject: [Cal_Boats] Losing a sailing buddy I got an e-mail last night from the daughter of an old friend, a former boss, telling me that he had died. I worked for him summers during college, at a sailing school/rental operation. He was a high school teacher and did that in the summer. Working there was what made me a sailor, and I have told everybody for years how grateful I am that I stumbled into that job because it changed my life. I say stumbled, because I got the job when I ran into another old high school teacher at an airport. He was on his way home from inspecting the Annapolis Sailing School operation with an eye toward opening a franchise in my home town. He offered a summer job and I got it. The guy who just died was a really good sailor. As a high school kid, he had sailed his 20' 1922 wooden gaff rigged sloop from Sturgeon Bay, WI to Bay City, MI when his dad moved t\for a new job as a naval architect. I loved to contemplate those parents saying to their son, "Sure, sail your boat across Lake Michigan and around into Lake Huron." That was before VHF-FM, GPS, chart plotters, or cell phones. He had no marine radio, just a compass and the standard charting tools. And a bilge pump; the 1922 woody was also leaky. But he made it, and the boat is now in his son's care in NY. Once I had sailed with him to a northern port to deliver a boat for charter. He was busy with some chore and directed me to coil the mainsheet & hang it. I coiled it and hung it. A few minutes later he re-coiled and hung it. My coils had been uneven. He did not say a word about it and didn't know that I had seen it. But I learned a lesson--do it right, make it look good--and I remember that every time I coil a line. This friend was a bit prickly and some found him hard to get along with. But in my experience, sailors are all eccentric, and besides, I figured out a long time ago that we need to make allowances for our friends' quirks. He liked sailing, he liked boats, he was a good boss, and we got along. Tolerance is a virtue I can sometimes apply. (Cal connection: he later operated the sailing school through a local community college, and my Cal 20 was a donation that they sold off. There were two intervening owners before I got it). So there are two lessons here. One is to be tolerant because our friends are usually not much more perfect than we are. The second is that we learn lots of lessons from others, and we probably teach a lot of lessons through our own behavior and actions that we're not aware of. Chris Campbell

The most awesome thing that has ever been said about me after a race was said by then commodore of the Saint Andrews Bay Yacht Club when asked by his crew why I did a 720 before the start of the race. The crew member asked why I did spins when the Commodore had not protested. His answer meant everything to me. He said because he's an honorable man. I knew I had fowled him while approaching the starting line and I did not wait for him to holler protest. Nothing could say more about the sport of sailboat racing then two competitors who know that honor means more than winning. On Dec 12, 2017 12:19 PM, "pw… [at] aol.com [Cal_Boats]" <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> wrote: Great story Chris and sorry for your loss. I love hearing stories about "old salts" and how they managed w/o all the high tech crap we have today. My favorite advice from an old salt (actually not that old but a guy who'd been sailing all his life) was about racing. He said don't worry about your screw ups, because no one sails a perfect race. It's how you deal with your screw ups that matters. Paul From: ccampbell cc… [at] lsnm.org [Cal_Boats] <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> To: Cal_Boats <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> Sent: Tue, Dec 12, 2017 12:38 pm Subject: [Cal_Boats] Losing a sailing buddy I got an e-mail last night from the daughter of an old friend, a former boss, telling me that he had died. I worked for him summers during college, at a sailing school/rental operation. He was a high school teacher and did that in the summer. Working there was what made me a sailor, and I have told everybody for years how grateful I am that I stumbled into that job because it changed my life. I say stumbled, because I got the job when I ran into another old high school teacher at an airport. He was on his way home from inspecting the Annapolis Sailing School operation with an eye toward opening a franchise in my home town. He offered a summer job and I got it. The guy who just died was a really good sailor. As a high school kid, he had sailed his 20' 1922 wooden gaff rigged sloop from Sturgeon Bay, WI to Bay City, MI when his dad moved t\for a new job as a naval architect. I loved to contemplate those parents saying to their son, "Sure, sail your boat across Lake Michigan and around into Lake Huron." That was before VHF-FM, GPS, chart plotters, or cell phones. He had no marine radio, just a compass and the standard charting tools. And a bilge pump; the 1922 woody was also leaky. But he made it, and the boat is now in his son's care in NY. Once I had sailed with him to a northern port to deliver a boat for charter. He was busy with some chore and directed me to coil the mainsheet & hang it. I coiled it and hung it. A few minutes later he re-coiled and hung it. My coils had been uneven. He did not say a word about it and didn't know that I had seen it. But I learned a lesson--do it right, make it look good--and I remember that every time I coil a line. This friend was a bit prickly and some found him hard to get along with. But in my experience, sailors are all eccentric, and besides, I figured out a long time ago that we need to make allowances for our friends' quirks. He liked sailing, he liked boats, he was a good boss, and we got along. Tolerance is a virtue I can sometimes apply. (Cal connection: he later operated the sailing school through a local community college, and my Cal 20 was a donation that they sold off. There were two intervening owners before I got it). So there are two lessons here. One is to be tolerant because our friends are usually not much more perfect than we are. The second is that we learn lots of lessons from others, and we probably teach a lot of lessons through our own behavior and actions that we're not aware of. Chris Campbell

I have only met two men like this in my lifetime and I understand what this man meant to you. I had a geology professor named Dr. Allan Thompson who changed the way I looked at life and another man named Willie G Berry who put me in a Flying Scot sailboat and taught me to love the sport! Special people in my life! Don Dutton 1986 Cal 33-2, "Quantum Evolution" Sent from Xfinity Mobile App From: ccampbell cc… [at] lsnm.org [Cal_Boats] To: Cal Boats Sent: December 12, 2017 at 9:40 AM Subject: [Cal_Boats] Losing a sailing buddy I got an e-mail last night from the daughter of an old friend, a former boss, telling me that he had died. I worked for him summers during college, at a sailing school/rental operation. He was a high school teacher and did that in the summer. Working there was what made me a sailor, and I have told everybody for years how grateful I am that I stumbled into that job because it changed my life. I say stumbled, because I got the job when I ran into another old high school teacher at an airport. He was on his way home from inspecting the Annapolis Sailing School operation with an eye toward opening a franchise in my home town. He offered a summer job and I got it. The guy who just died was a really good sailor. As a high school kid, he had sailed his 20' 1922 wooden gaff rigged sloop from Sturgeon Bay, WI to Bay City, MI when his dad moved t\for a new job as a naval architect. I loved to contemplate those parents saying to their son, "Sure, sail your boat across Lake Michigan and around into Lake Huron." That was before VHF-FM, GPS, chart plotters, or cell phones. He had no marine radio, just a compass and the standard charting tools. And a bilge pump; the 1922 woody was also leaky. But he made it, and the boat is now in his son's care in NY. Once I had sailed with him to a northern port to deliver a boat for charter. He was busy with some chore and directed me to coil the mainsheet & hang it. I coiled it and hung it. A few minutes later he re-coiled and hung it. My coils had been uneven. He did not say a word about it and didn't know that I had seen it. But I learned a lesson--do it right, make it look good--and I remember that every time I coil a line. This friend was a bit prickly and some found him hard to get along with. But in my experience, sailors are all eccentric, and besides, I figured out a long time ago that we need to make allowances for our friends' quirks. He liked sailing, he liked boats, he was a good boss, and we got along. Tolerance is a virtue I can sometimes apply. (Cal connection: he later operated the sailing school through a local community college, and my Cal 20 was a donation that they sold off. There were two intervening owners before I got it). So there are two lessons here. One is to be tolerant because our friends are usually not much more perfect than we are. The second is that we learn lots of lessons from others, and we probably teach a lot of lessons through our own behavior and actions that we're not aware of. Chris Campbell

Wouldn’t it be nice to know that you inspired someone. To have effected their life in such a positive way. Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone On Tuesday, December 12, 2017, 11:37 AM, ccampbell cc… [at] lsnm.org [Cal_Boats] <Ca… [at] yahoogroups.com> wrote: I got an e-mail last night from the daughter of an old friend, a former boss, telling me that he had died. I worked for him summers during college, at a sailing school/rental operation. He was a high school teacher and did that in the summer. Working there was what made me a sailor, and I have told everybody for years how grateful I am that I stumbled into that job because it changed my life. I say stumbled, because I got the job when I ran into another old high school teacher at an airport. He was on his way home from inspecting the Annapolis Sailing School operation with an eye toward opening a franchise in my home town. He offered a summer job and I got it. The guy who just died was a really good sailor. As a high school kid, he had sailed his 20' 1922 wooden gaff rigged sloop from Sturgeon Bay, WI to Bay City, MI when his dad moved t\for a new job as a naval architect. I loved to contemplate those parents saying to their son, "Sure, sail your boat across Lake Michigan and around into Lake Huron." That was before VHF-FM, GPS, chart plotters, or cell phones. He had no marine radio, just a compass and the standard charting tools. And a bilge pump; the 1922 woody was also leaky. But he made it, and the boat is now in his son's care in NY. Once I had sailed with him to a northern port to deliver a boat for charter. He was busy with some chore and directed me to coil the mainsheet & hang it. I coiled it and hung it. A few minutes later he re-coiled and hung it. My coils had been uneven. He did not say a word about it and didn't know that I had seen it. But I learned a lesson--do it right, make it look good--and I remember that every time I coil a line. This friend was a bit prickly and some found him hard to get along with. But in my experience, sailors are all eccentric, and besides, I figured out a long time ago that we need to make allowances for our friends' quirks. He liked sailing, he liked boats, he was a good boss, and we got along. Tolerance is a virtue I can sometimes apply. (Cal connection: he later operated the sailing school through a local community college, and my Cal 20 was a donation that they sold off. There were two intervening owners before I got it). So there are two lessons here. One is to be tolerant because our friends are usually not much more perfect than we are. The second is that we learn lots of lessons from others, and we probably teach a lot of lessons through our own behavior and actions that we're not aware of. Chris Campbell