[CINC] Return of the Condor

[whalebear at cs.com]

Following as it does in the wake of Fred's death, the return of the original Condor has a particular poignancy.  The Condor was the boat used for many years by the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History for its whale-watching.  It was the platform on which the museum's old Whale Corps, which featured Shauna at the helm and Fred as a primal force in the birthing, was based.  It was used by us at the museum for many years for island trips to San Miguel and Santa Cruz, with some memorable multi-island trips (Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel, and Santa Barbara islands) undertaken also.  For a number of years, in the late 70's and through the 80's, it felt as if Chuck Woodhouse and I almost lived on the boat.....the stories, and the ghosts, come flooding back and are almost overwhelming.......getting nearly blown into the water off Santa Rosa while in my sleeping bag on the upper deck, the museum staff who fell off the top of the wheelhouse during a late-night tryst, sucking a panga into the propeller at Cuyler Harbor, having a 300 gallon water container coming unmoored on the upper deck while crossing the Potato Patch, loading people into a panga in Cuyler Harbor amidst a sudden weather change with waves that almost reached the cliffs,,,, but most of all Fred's enormous grin and inexhaustible good humor no matter what the circumstances.  There was no quirk of weather or equipment malfunction that could disturb his equilibrium.  He was as much a force of nature as any of the elements, and the Condor was almost a physical extension of him.  There's a lot of wonderful history on that boat.....I hope you all take time to listen to the spirits on it when next you sail.

Regards to All,

Chuck Rennie
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