Sailing

Ok, so Sarge had a week of posts with sailboats and schooners and Rhode Island and such, which I appreciated.  And......

As happens so often on this blog,   this reminded me of a story.

You see,  the last vehicle I was at the controls of was not an F-15, or an OH-1.  

No, it was a Rhodes 19.

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Whilst stationed at USCINCPAC, headquartered at Camp H. M. Smith in the mountains above Pearl Harbor, I lived on Hickam AFB.  Of course this was back in the Halcyon days when the Air Force owned Air Force Bases and the Navy had Harbors and the Army had Forts.  The Marines, they had Camps.  (Pretty sure they, then and now, contained Tents, just kidding! Or.....)

Stay on Target, juvat!

En el blanco, sí, mi muy viejo Sargento de la Fuerza Aérea!

My house was a two story duplex a couple of blocks from the Pearl Harbor Channel and a few blocks from the PACAF Headquarters building.  It was build in the '20s, so was "there" that day.  No Air Conditioning, but it did have a maid's quarters.  AC wasn't really required except when the Kona winds blew typically in August.  We had a window AC in our bedroom for when that happened.  Didn't need it very much.

The job there was an interesting one.  I was in charge of putting together and training a team from all four Pacific Command Force HQs that could deploy on 3 hours notice to 7th Flt, 3 MEF or I Corps, augment their indigenous capabilities with Joint expertise and help them perform the mission as assigned by USCINCPAC.  

As I said it was fun, and we got to travel a lot and do some fun thing.  Some not so fun.

But, best of all, we were stationed in Hawaii.  Which meant time off was a blast.  The kids were old enough to do "fun" things (No, riding "It's a small world" is NOT fun).  Going down to the Hale Koa, sitting by the pool, swimming with the kids and maybe having a Mai Tai ("Only One!", "Okay, Two", "OMG, Three!) was fun.  Bellows Beach was Fun.  

When we didn't feel like braving Honolulu traffic, we'd go down to Hickam Harbor. 

 It was a little Harbor with a couple of boat docks, a beach, and, most importantly, a MWR facility (for those that aren't familiar with the term, that would be a Morale, Welfare and Recreation facility AKA, restaurant and Bar).  

While other services may have had similar facilities, none of them looked like this.

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Come to think of it, no other AIR FORCE facilities looked like that!  It was nice!

Back in my running days (long, long ago), I would run from my quarters to Hickam Harbor and back.  Typically the sea breeze would keep me mostly cool.  The run along the channel was always interesting.  I'd run by the HANG F-15 Squadron and wonder....

Then I'd get to the Harbor, turn around and come back.  

One morning I'm on the run, and approaching the Harbor, I see an acquaintance.  He and another guy are on a sailboat, maneuvering around in the Harbor.  Later on I run into him at Camp Smith and I asked him what he'd been doing.

He'd been getting checked out in a sailboat that the MWR department had available to rent at the Harbor.

Something I'd always wanted to do.

Shortly thereafter I'm enrolled in class, and we get a little ground school.  How to tie a truckers hitch (and quite a few others, Truckers Hitch is the only one I remember, because I still use it.) and right of way rules ("Mass has the right of way, Carrier beats sailboat every time" was the way it was explained to me) and such.

Finally, we're cleared to go sailing.  

It was a blast!  However, pretty soon as I gained proficiency, the 30 acre or so sized harbor got transversed fairly quickly and after a dozen or so passes, it started to get boring.  Even after I got cleared solo.

My instructor apparently was a bit bored with it also.

So....Duh! Duh! DDDUUUUUUHHHHH!  On my last ride he asks me if I want to take a little trip.  I said "Sure, Where?"

"Sail out of Hickam Harbor, up the Channel around Ford Island and back out the Channel and Home."

Cool!

He took care of whatever arrangements were required. (It probably required Papal Dispensation as well as Written Permission, in triplicate, from every O-6 or higher with in a 20NM radius of Hickam Harbor (A LOT of those hanging round), but we were cleared.

It took us a couple of hours, and I think the real reason for the trip was he wanted to get pictures, as I was at the tiller the whole time whilst he was clicking away on his camera.  (Meaning I have no actual pictures of the trip.)

Fortunately, there was no significant shippage coming or going in the harbor that day, so I didn't have to demonstrate my nautical BFM skills against anything Naval.

We did sail by the Arizona and I wondered if I should have ordered him to "Man the Rails!"  but he was Air Force also, so he might just have looked at me.  We both did quit talking and just sit there looking as we went past.

Attended quite a few retirement ceremonies and one funeral aboard.  I don't think I ever left with dry eyes.
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I like this view a little better. Your sacrifice was not in vain.
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The bridge to Ford Island had not been constructed, so rounding the north side of the Island was no big deal.

Coming around the west side, I noticed something rising from the harbor and inquired.

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He informed me that it was the USS Utah.  I knew that she had been sunk, but I didn't know that she wasn't completely underwater nor that she was still there.  Very Interesting!

OT, but as I was looking for pictures for this post, I came across an article with a couple of unique stories of the Ship.  

After she turned turtle, and while the attack was still going on, rescue operations were underway to cut holes in the bottom to rescue trapped crewmen.  The rescue crews were getting strafed, so the Captain of the West Virginia, ordered a machine gun to be set up on the Utah to protect them.  There is an unconfirmed kill reported, which if true would make the Utah the only ship ever to shoot down an aircraft while upside down.

The second story is that there is an infant girl entombed aboard.  Apparently, one of the crewman had had twin daughters, one of whom had died shortly after birth.  In true Naval tradition, the crewman had wished for her to be buried at see.  Her ashes were in his locker awaiting their next sailing when the attack happened.  

"Interesting, juvat, back on the story!"

"De vuelta a la historia, sí, mi muy, muy viejo Sargento de la Fuerza Aérea!"

We couldn't stop or get very close, so again sat quietly as we went past.

Sailed past Ford Island's airport, which we (the family, not me and the instructor, sailboats don't go on land!) never got to visit, partly because the bridge hadn't been built and partly because the Missouri wasn't there, and the combination of the two meant that there really wasn't anything to see there. at the time.  I understand they have a very nice  Aviation Museum there now.

Back down the channel and back into Hickam Harbor.  As Aaron, might say "2.0 on the sails, and 1 docking."  

Unfortunately, taking the boats out of the Harbor, required an instructor on board so I was limited to Hickam Harbor, but Little Juvat and I had a blast on quite a few days the rest of the tour.