Rites of spring

[Ken Juul]

Opening Day at my Yacht Club this weekend.  On of the traditions always done is the burning of a pair of socks to signify the arrival of sailing season and as an offering to Neptune and Poiseden. 

I don't know if this is a world wide tradition or something thought up by Sebago or Sperry   but I can't wait for it to get warm enough to ditch the socks.

[ssk]

A fine Northeast tradition.
Would love to attend one of the sock burning parties...sounds like a lot of fun in anticipation of good weather.
But living in Southern California keeps me out of my socks, sailing and living in flip flops most of the year.
Lucky me. Lucky we on the lower left coast.
And something else to celebrate besides the weather...just heard that the monster LPG terminal proposed for offshore of Oxnard and the Channel Islands Marine Preserve will not be built...yet. 

[Ken Juul]

I was suprised at the number of "what are you talking about" replys.  Found this on the Annapolis Maritime Museum Website.

Long ago, the Eastport (across the creek from Annapolis, MD) waterfront consisted of working boat yards, boat builders and large petroleum storage tanks. There were two good pubs and no fancy restaurants to lure tourists to the peninsula. These were the days before global warming, when the creeks and even the bay would freeze completely over. Winter seemed to linger forever and temperatures would fall into single digits (this was before wind chill) with alarming regularity.

During this time there was nothing much to do in the winter except to wait for the first warm breeze to waft up from the south and to do your part to insure that the local pubs did not go out of business. The inhabitants of this primitive environment were for the most part involved in either selling or maintaining boats.

During one particularly harsh winter a small group of these workers led by Bob Turner at Annapolis Harbor Boatyard decided that they would do something about these long, cold winters. They set up a paint tray with some wood and a little fuel to get it started, doffed their socks, placed them in the inferno and broke out an ice cold case of Budweiser. Having done this, they decreed an end to winter and commenced with activities that were more in line with the newly decreed spring season. Mother Nature, having recognized when she had been outdone, acquiesced and banished the winter weather for the season.

As with all truly significant events in history, this one did not go unnoticed by the world at large. A few of the world's more prominent astronomers heard of this event and conspired to steal the glory of man's conquest over nature away from our local heroes. They declared that this day, which they then dubbed "The Vernal Equinox," was controlled by the movements of the planets and the "Burning of the Socks" had nothing to do with it! Now we all know better than that, which is why we continue to uphold the tradition that was officially passed on to EYC by Bob Turner when he departed Eastport in frustration. Bob was so disgusted with the way the academic world had treated him that he tied a pair of socks to his antennae and said he was going to head south until someone asked him what they were.

Well, the world keeps turning, and it seems that Bob Turner has returned to our midst. So, if you want to take part in controlling Mother Nature and help to show the world who is really in charge of the seasons, burn your sock, drink beer, eat oysters and drive "Old Man Winter" out on a south wind driven by the heat and pungency of our fire!!

Thank you to Ivon Paulin and Eastport Yacht Club for the "real" story!