DANGEROUS ALASKA —As we sailed along the York River past the Yorktown Coast Guard Training Center, I asked Rob Faucett of Ocean View, Delaware, what it was like to serve in the US Coast Guard in the Gulf of Alaska and Bearing Sea. “I think we took as high as 27-foot seas, which was okay on a 180-foot buoy tender. But we couldn’t take the waves to the side of the boat because the hull was shaped like a football to rise up and break ice. It was pretty rolly in a storm.” With the added dimension of cold winds and water during winter, he added, “Nobody went out on deck in a situation like that.”  We sailed on peacefully in one-foot seas. 

Sailing 50 Years Later

Linda Louise Stamper of Indiana and her beau Scott dated a few times in high school before graduating in 1960 and going their separate ways to marry and raise families. Years later their spouses passed away. Scott related while sailing the York River how he caught up with Linda, who had developed a successful advertising agency. “I noticed that she designed the invitation for the 50^th high school reunion. I didn’t go, but I saw her picture and called a few months later.” Fifty years later, they got married and are now looking to attend their 55^th high school reunion together. Their homecoming should get top billing.