The time is 1939. The place is the Mashford Brothers Shipyard in England. The event is the laying of the keel for the sloop Felicity Ann. This weekend, the 23-foot-long sloop will be in Port Ludlow on the first stop of her “victory “lap of the Puget Sound. 

You may ask, “What’s the big deal?”

Well, Felicity Ann was the vehicle used by Ann Davison in 1952-1953 as she became the first woman to sail solo across the Atlantic. 

Following that adventure, the boat was transported to the Northwest, spent time with several owners in Alaska and, because of its history, came to the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding for restoration under the stewardship of the Community Boat Project. 

This summer, the boat embarks on a victory lap around the Salish Sea with an all-women crew. 

This weekend, there will be shore-side presentations about the boat, its history and plans for its future by Shelly Randall. Incidentally and not coincidentally, the voyage is sponsored by Kitsap Bank, whose history includes the first female bank president west of the Mississippi. 

Come down to the Port Ludlow Marina and check it out. 

I have been recently struck by the non-discriminatory nature of just plain bad luck, certainly as it pertains to crashing a car. 

The first thing I saw was a picture of a nice Porsche convertible under a van. It turns out the owner had checked into a hotel in Australia, and the valet was taking the car to the hotel parking lot. He obviously stepped on the wrong pedal, and the car jumped forward, ending up under the van parked in front of it. 

Then there is the recent Detroit Grand Prix Indycar race in Detroit, sponsored by Chevrolet. Almost all races have a pace car of some sort, so why not a brand new 700-horsepower Corvette for this one? In addition, why not let a General Motors vice president drive the car? The car starts out on the warmup lap and gets roughly 200 yards from where it started. The car fishtails, spins and crashes into the wall, ending the day for the car and the “celebrity” driver. The good news is there was a backup Corvette, and the race management decided to put a professional driver behind the wheel this time. 

Now I come to the corner of Pioneer Drive and Swansonville Road last week. Approaching the intersection, I realize that, barely visible in the deep vegetation, there is a white sport-utility vehicle. Frankly, I only saw the car when I drove by because there were sheriff’s deputies hacking away the bushes and weeds so that the tow truck lurking nearby could get the vehicle out of the thick underbrush. 

There we are with a now out-of-work Australian hotel parking valet, an embarrassed, overpaid (maybe?), less-than-talented GM executive Corvette driver, and a local lady who appears to have just driven off Swansonville Road. They all have the same reply when asked what happened: “I have no idea.” 

That being said, we need to remember that Cormac McCarthy told us, “You never know what worse luck your bad luck saved you from.”

Love a curmudgeon, and have a great week.

NedLuce@sbcglobal.net