the
legendary Frank Dye recalls the unique talents
of Don Davis
-----
Original Message -----
From: "Frank Dye"
Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 7:43 AM
Subject: Don
Davis
RECOLLECTIONS OF DON DAVIS
The telephone rang
one Spring morning many years ago."Come to Canada for a holiday for two weeks. Stay with us. We
will pay your return air fare and we'll book your ticket tomorrow," said a
Canadian drawl. It was my
introduction to Don Davis.
I
should have been suspicious, as one of Don's favourite quotes was
'There's no such thing as a
free lunch'. I discovered, once I had accepted, that the invitation included 5 talks in Canada and
two in Michigan. The financial arrangements were 'dodgy', too, but I
didn't dicover this until halfway through our 'holiday'. The airfare, which
in those days was very expensive, was being financed by an innocent member
of Don's Sailing Club who had boasted
to Don that he owned one of the new Credit Cards with a one-month pay-back period. Don immediately realised
that this was like hire purchase - have it now and pay later. "We can buy
the tickets on this fellow's monthly credit card, charge enough to cover
expenses, and pay him off in time for him to settle at the end of his months
credit," reasoned Don. I was told that the chap sweated on the top line for
the whole month.
Don
introduced us to so many of the Canadian Wayfarers, and many
friendships continued over
the years. On the last day,
he was showing us round his S C when Margaret mentioned, "It was a lovely day and wouldn't it be
wonderful to have a a sail?" But Don explained the difficulties - the ice had
only left the harbour 2 days previously,
air temperature was 5 below, and the boats were still frozen in, and we had inspected several
Wayfarers turned over, covered by tarpaulins, and still under ice and snow. But two
hours later a wooden Wayfarer arrived by trailer (was it George Blanchard's,
collected from his garage, or Don's Cara
Mia?). It was soon rigged on the slipway. It was bitterly cold, water temp was only 2 degrees above
freezing, and there was a short chop running. "We're going to get wet," I
suggested cautiously to Don and George and Margaret as we launched, but the torn
oilskins that Don had discovered in the changing rooms didn't leak long as
the fresh water spray sealed them as soon as it froze on our backs.
Don was always a
great enthusiast, and an organiser with the happy knack of 'getting things right', and he organised
many successful adventurous Wayfarer
cruises in Georgian Bay and even Lake Superior. He invited Margaret on a Canadian Rally
when she was English Cruising Secretary and
developing UK Wayfarer Rallies - to the benefit of both.
Only those in the Wayfarer Association
who knew him well, realised how hard Don worked to ensure success: One of
Don's Wayfarer Cruises had gone extremely well and every decision he made, had come out 'right'. On
the last day of the cruise, a member, whom Don didn't like much, as he never helped or
cooperated, congratulated him on
the organisation of the Rally, describing it as "reasonably good!" Don smothered his dislike and asked if he
could perhaps organise anything else for him? He looked at the drink in his
hand, "Some ice would be acceptable, Don!". After which, Don walked off into
the woods to 'pee' and while thus occupied, there was a sudden hailstorm . When Don
returned, the beach was covered with big hailstones and the chap greeted him open
mouthed, "Jesus! you really can do anything,
can't you!"
Many years later, I was
staying with Don and Trudy while waiting for my flight home. We were chatting about
Canadian Rally organisation, and Don recalled one particular moment of
excitement while sailing with Trudy: "I decided that the weather was too bad
to sail and we'd stay ashore, but the others wanted to get back. It was a
narrow channel wind blowing straight in. Cara
Mia refused to come about and got 'in irons'. There was a narrow gap between the rocks, so I jerked
her round with the rudder, through the gap, and ran onto a rock; back across
the channel onto another rock but a wave washed us off. Out clear of the
channel at last, I hove to and was saying how wonderfully the Wayfarer
heaves to just lifting easily to the waves - no fuss or spray! Trudy turned
round in tears and said, "Don't you ever pray?!"
Don was silent so I gently repeated Trudy's question, "Do you ever
pray, Don?" "The last time I prayed was in the port
of Augusta in Italy. It was a German
submarine base. The Germans were bombing the hell out of us one night, shrapnel everywhere from bombs and
flak. Chap next to me got a big bit of shrapnel right through his
sleeping bag right alongside him - he was very quiet for several days! I was
sheltering behind a stack of 45 gallon drums. Next day, come daylight, I
discovered the drums were full of gasoline. Next night the Germans came
back and dropped a great flare which lit up everthing. A Junkers dive bomber came
down. I can remember it screaming, then the bomb whistling. I dived into a
concrete trench among some mounds. I found out later the mounds covered fuel
tanks for the submarines! Yes,
I prayed then!"
It was in Italy where
the whole population were
ardent opera fans with enormously high standards even in wartime with everyone starving, that
Don developed his love for classical Opera. It and Wayfaring became enthusiasms that lasted a lifetime.
Even Don's disasters
were memorable. He was an
accompished speaker. I listened to his talk to a packed audience at the Guelph Working Men's Club and
discovered that he was an excellent raconteur. He told of his wartime
experiences in Europe with the Canadian Army - many sad and poignant that remain
vivid memories to this day - and with humorous and very risqué
recollections of young men relaxing 'out of the fighting line'. It was one of the
best talks I had been to for a long time but he sailed 'very close to the
wind' occasionally. He told
me that he gave another lecture to the Church Women's Guild two weeks later and was boo'ed by the
audience. Suddenly the penny dropped and I asked suspiciously, "Don, you didn't give them the same talk
as I heard at the Working Men's Club?" "Yes," said Don, "that was a good
talk, so I thought I'd do it again." "Not all the stories, too?" I asked in
disbelief. "Yes -
and they boo'ed me!"
Don, we shall all miss
you greatly!
Frank Dye W48 'Wanderer'
-----
Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 1:24 PM
Subject: Re: Don Davis
Hi again, Frank:
Here is the stuff I
scanned from the Yearbook - I had to switch to "Rich Text" under
"Format" above to get the images to go in. Hope you're set up for this?
Failing that, I also expect to post your story and these images, and
I'll let you know when and where. Best regards,
Uncle Al (W3854)
<>  |
