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 QUENTIN WALD
Trained as an aeronautical engineer,
Quentin Wald contributed to the early development of the helicopter and
designed several major wind tunnels. He later specialized in
marine hydrodynamics. In addition to The Farthest Shore, he is author of a book about the Wright
Brothers as engineers, and in recent years has written poetry and
essays.
We first met Quentin
Wald in a
boat yard in Attica, Greece. We learned he was sailing alone,
though he did have family members arrive from time to time to join
him. He became one of many confreres met during our '80s
Mediterranean
odyssey. Friends were made quickly, lasting friendships rare.
We ran into Quentin again when we and he were beginning the long haul
home. I think we docked near each other in Gibraltar where we
both had
crew coming aboard. We all had some good times ashore and in
Mogan,
Canary Islands, we happened to be together for a longer period, as we
had to wait until the end of November and the official demise of the
hurricane season. By then we had learned that he was retired,
divorced, father of three, had a stereo on his boat along with a
collection of CDs and paperbacks. Independent in every way, he
had
worked out all the sailing and living-aboard questions to his
satisfaction. He had a well-fitted out 37´ sloop called
Anaximander that made
the
trans-Atlantic crossing with hardly a change in sail set once they were
in the trade Winds.
Recently arrived in Barbados, we celebrated Christmas morning with
Quentin and others in the cockpit drinking rum and orange juice.
We left our boat that year in the Virgin Islands, while he headed on,
running into Hurricane Hugo in South Carolina. He found a boat
yard in Wilmington where he spent months making repairs, and sometimes
rented a car to visit us in Asheville. One time he arrived with a
parrot on his shoulder.
He sold his boat after repairs were completed and headed northwest to
Port Townsend, Washington. He bought a house on Cape George Road
where we saw him for a day or so when we were in the area a year or two
later. He was working on some engineering questions, writing a
journal article about air flow and propellers and researching the
period his father worked for the Wright brothers. It surprised us
to learn he had joined a writers' group and even sent some poems.
He came to visit us in Kingston, Ontario, for some sailing. We
enthused about his poems, so he sent us one small collection and then
another. We read a few aloud to others on a party weekend in the
mountains; their response equaled ours in appreciation. One thing
led to another so we put Pine Tree Press to work and can now share The Farthest Shore with you.
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