One of my favorite books about coastal Maine is a little volume called Between Wind and Water by Gerald Warner Brace published by Norton in 1966. For some years it was out of print, but recently it has been reissued by Countyman Press. All of us who love tales about the way things used to be along the coast should feel lucky that we have been given another crack at this little jewel.
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David Tew says:
Bill- I read somewhere, and there’s a hint of it in your write-up about Brace having a few boats built for himself, that he was a yacht designer as well as a writer. Do you know anything more about that?
George Weinbrenner says:
Beautiful writing envelopes the soul of a waterman like the fog overtakes a boat, slowly and completely.
Clyde Davis says:
Fine recommendation! From the last page I turned immediately to the first again. Now savoring. Uncharacteristically, I’ve a list of page numbers just inside the front cover: beautiful language, wisdom, good advice, and attitudes for this beginner. Thank You!
David Tew says:
Thanks, Bill. “BW&W” is one of my secret favorites. I recommend it only to people who have PROVEN they have the character and intelligence to appreciate Maine, its past and its people. I especially enjoy the passages about fog. Another boy and I delivered a sloop from Falmouth Foreside to Camden over one long, socked-in day in the pre-GPS, cjarts/pencil/dividers/compass/leadline and watch sixties, rarely seeing anything except the loom of an island and buoys we navigated by. When we arrived at dusk the harbormaster took our lines at the dock and asked where we’d come from. He then asked “Inside or Outside?” meaning did we come through Mussel Ridge Channel or the longer route around it, avoiding its islands and ledges. When we answered ‘Inside’ he smiled and said “You’ll do” which was as great a compliment as one would get from him.
Georg Hinteregger says:
On the NOAA chart it’s “Muscle Ridge Channel.” In Paul Molyneaux’s book “The Doryman’s Reflection” Paul writes “Mussel Shoal channel.” (pg 113) “Mussel” or “muscle” the ear is indifferent. It doesn’t take a lot of muscle to open up a mussel.
Thought you might enjoy Paul’s book, an account of a nearly vanished way of life in Maine. Bernard Raynes brings his backyard built 58′ cedar on oak fishing boat thru the channel on the way back to Owl’s Head after a long (unsuccessful) trip in the offshore harpoon swordfishery. The loran’s quit. It’s thick-a-fog.
Motoring at night Two Bush channel can be a good alternative nowadays with lobster pot buoys thick as they are.
Georg Hinteregger says:
Having enjoyed Bill’s astute and lyrical writings elsewhere and it being the darker days of winter I ordered the book (one cent plus $3.99 shipping from an Amazon vendor) (weird how you can have a great many books delivered to your mailbox for the price of gas to the library or bookstore–well maybe not for now with gas at $1.82/gal.). The book was the enjoyable read promised.
The writing about boats, the sea and the weather is delightful but his “excursions into socio-economic” history are not nearly as penetrating. Given the huge post WWII gains by the middle class, for Brace writing in the 60’s, an observation like, “In the equalitarian future we are coming to, the rich will presumably no longer exist as a class. Nor the poor.” seemed to him realistic.
Bill notes (with stipulations), “The distinction between natives and fromaways (as described by Brace) no longer hold.” Perhaps it was the cultural revolution starting in the late 60’s as well as extreme polarization about the Viet Nam war that facilitated the breakdown.
Greg Stamatelakys says:
Words from Brace and Mayher like water to a thirsty man.