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Another custom feature on the Richard & Arnold, probably not found in the pilot houses of other ICW cruisers, comfortable captains’ chairs, straight from a Honda Odyssey that was being fitted with seats for a handicapped driver.

On still another occasion, as the Richard & Arnold made its way into the harbor at Martha’s Vineyard, a small powerboat zipped past them, then around them, before it finally came alongside. The man driving the boat called out, “You know who I am?”

They didn’t. The man in the powerboat faced blank stares and then broke the awkward silence with two words. Judy and David could not believe their ears when he said, “I’m Arnold.”

“He was so thrilled to see the boat,” Judy recalls, “that he had tears in his eyes. He was 83 at the time.”

Another moment of recognition occurred this fall, as Judy and David made their way to the Solomon Islands in Maryland on this journey down the ICW. “We had just passed this beautiful boat, the Rachel Carson . It was on its way out as we were coming in from the Chesapeake. Our radio crackled and we heard, ’Is that the Richard & Arnold heading into the Solomons?’”

“When David answered, the captain of the Rachel Carson said, ‘I’m sitting here reading your wife’s book.’” In 2013 Judy penned Nautical Twilight. The book chronicles David and Judy’s life together on the Cape

The captain of the Rachel Carson subsequently directed them to the University of Maryland docks and told them to tie up there as guests.

A treasure in the ships log, a reminder of the broad spectrum of appeal and respect for the Richard & Arnold.

According to David, the power plant is the engine that won World War II. The Detroit 871 operated generators and drove landing craft loaded with both men and heavy equipment through surf and enemy fire to establish beach heads. It is 250HP with eight 71 cubic inch cylinders. Its shaft is connected to a 48-in bronze 4-blade prop, one of many bestowed on Provincetown fishermen by the 7th fleet after WWII.

David is a third generation fisherman. His family immigrated to the US from the Azores off Portugal. He was born and raised in Provincetown. Judy moved to Provincetown from Clifton, New Jersey after that summer of waitressing forty-four years ago. They have two sons, one a master carpenter, one a graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy who is a first mate on a tugboat.

David’s salutation to the sun is one of many anecdotes that portray a deep appreciation for and strong connection to all things living, great and small. Judy recalled the day a seagull with a fishing hook in its mouth landed on the deck. David caught the bird and removed the hook. “He did that and that sea gull followed him and the boat around for weeks.”

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Posted Wednesday March 30, 2016 by Melinda Penkava

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