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Babydolls on the Bernard
Posted on Nov 10th, 2016
Mike Bordelon is the author of the book “We’re in the Ocean” that tells about his sailing adventures along the Texas coast. He was Commodore of the Houston Yacht Club in 2009 and is a pretty good storyteller. Here is a excerpt from his 2012 book about an incidence on the San Bernard.
“…After studying the charts Murl decided we would drop anchor on the north side of the ICW on the San Bernard River not the south side, the Gulf side.
This was the era of the babydoll pajamas. You remember those two-piece women’s sexy sheer pajamas made of lace and silk chiffon popular in the late 50’s and 60’s. They were made famous by the movie Baby Doll with Carroll Baker along with Karl Malden and Eli Wallach. You didn’t have to go to Frederick’s of Hollywood to buy them. They were available at Sears and Roebuck. All the women on both Finale and Viking II wore them on the cruise. Why they needed pajamas on a sailboat cruise in the first place is one of life’s conundrums.
We turned north into the San Bernard River and set anchors in a fairly quick moving incoming tide…I asked Murl if towboats used the river. 'Hasn’t been a towboat out of here in 20 years,' he confidently assured me…
We ate supper and prepared for the night. Ann and Minnie put on their baby dolls, and I checked anchors and conditions. The strong southerly wind continued to blow and our anchors were well dug in. About 0200 hrs. a light began to flash inside the cabin. I thought a thunderstorm was brewing in the distance but I could hear no thunder. Soon I realized it was the search light from a tow sweeping his light back and forth between Finale and Viking II. I waked Ann and called over to Finale until Murl came out on deck. Once he saw events unfolding he called Minnie and she came up on deck. We started our engine and began easing forward so the women could pull in the anchor rode. The tow continued to hold his spotlight on us and because the light was from behind it was helpful rather than blinding. As the women bent over to haul in the anchor rode, the wind blew their baby doll pajamas up over their heads. As soon as their lace and silk chiffon covered derrières were exposed we could hear the powerful horn from the tow,
WHOOOPPP!
WHOOOPPP!
WHOOOPPP!
Humiliated, the women got the anchors up and we motored off into the dark. The tow passed us still ‘whooppping’ as we circled in the dark trying to decide what to do. The northwest side of the intersection between the ICW and the river was bulkheaded. Unable to find anything better we put out our fenders and tied up next to the bulkhead. Traffic during the remainder of the night made for a miserable time. Many years later we learned that if we would have just turned south toward the Gulf rather than north in the river we could have anchored in a beautiful spot free from any traffic with a beautiful view of vegetation and the beach."
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