Precious days with Cap'n Wilson
Tom Neale first met waterman Cap'n Wilson Rowe on a fine spring morning. Tom and his family had just returned to Chesapeake Bay from the Bahamas, and he saw that the waterman was working his nets while heading into the Piankatank River. An exchange of fresh fish and a subsequent conversation in the local auto-parts store led the pair to discover their common love of the water and a shared dislike of bureaucrats and politicians.
Dim lights
Tom Neale shares tales and photos of Chesapeake Bay waterman Cap'n Wilson Rowe. Mobile user can click here to watch it on YouTube.
From that first meeting, Neale sought out Cap'n Wilson every time he put in at Gwynns Island, Va.
"I'd sometimes go out to work the nets with him, just to learn what it was like and to help in whatever way I could," Neale writes in the August issue of Soundings. "I'd hear him hollering over the low rumble of his engine as he approached our boat at O'Dark Thirty: 'Cap'n Tom, get outta that baid and come on out here and do some real work.' "
Click here to purchase the two-DVD set "Cruising the East Coast with Tom Neale," full of helpful how-to tips. Special features include a seldom-seen manatee "Pect Walk" and a poker run on a high-performance powerboat.
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