Boy Scout Troop 325
Scoutmaster Minute
My Old Sailing Buddy
May 17, 2005
Larry Polyak, Assistant Scoutmaster

Tonight I’d like to share a personal sailing related story with you. Back in ancient times (the 1970’s) when I graduated from college, I took a job in Phoenix Arizona. I moved there from Illinois and didn’t know a soul. After a while I met a guy named Dave Baldwin and we became good friends and roommates. As I think back, he had a lot of Scout-like qualities: He was trustworthy, loyal, helpful, etc. One day we were sitting around without much to do -– neither of us owned a television set -– and Dave said “Let’s buy a sailboat”. I couldn’t think of any reason not to, so I said “Ok”. We had never even been on a sailboat, but we looked in the newspaper, found a guy selling a used 16 foot Catamaran and told the owner “Ok we’ll buy it if you take us out and show us how to use it.”. He agreed and took us out the next day. Our lesson consisted of him saying “Pick a spot on shore you want to go towards and keep the boat pointed in that direction.”

After a while we got the hang of it. Now with a catamaran, one of the fun things to do is to tip it up so that one hull in completely out of the water, sort of like popping a wheelie on a bicycle. You need to maintain just the right balance so that you don’t tip over, but you need a good strong wind to be able to do it. I remember one afternoon when we were out on the lake and there was no wind at all. We were just sitting there motionless. I got bored and stretched out on the canvas and took a nap. After a while a gust of wind came up, Dave pulled in the sail, the boat tipped up, and I slid right off the deck and into the water. feet first, like a dead body. I can almost still hear him laughing. We had a lot of good times on that boat.

Eventually we sold the boat, I moved here to California and he moved to Colorado and then New Hampshire . Dave passed away two years ago from skin cancer. He was only 46. He left behind a wife and three sons. His last couple of years were spent fighting the cancer and the chemotherapy. You can bet that when we are out sailing on Saturday, I’ll be thinking of my good friend and old sailing buddy Dave Baldwin.

There are a couple of morals to the story. One, use sun block and take proper precautions against the sun. I have to think that the time we spent in the hot Arizona sun contributed to his skin cancer. I guess I was lucky, I am still here. Two, pick your friends wisely. Choose those that have qualities you admire, like I did with Dave, and you’ll have a friend forever, even after he’s gone.

Thanks for listening