Sailing Stories

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    The Derkits family donated a lighted boat compass, barometer, and aluminum net float to the Port Aransas Maritime Museum in memory of John James Derkits, Jr, who grew up sailing with his dad on the Alabama Gulf Coast. My mom moved back to the coast at the beginning of 2022. She grew up in Daytona Beach, Florida; now she resides in Rockport, Texas. When she moved, I collected these artifacts, and wanted to share them.  

    There are so many details I wish I could verify and ask about, but that time has passed. My dad, John James Derkits, Jr. has died so the stories of he and Grandad that my mom, sisters, and I remember are the stories. He grew up on Mobile Bay. His dad was a sailor, and taught his boy, called JJ, to sail. JJ, who is known by his grandchildren as Papa, often sailed further than he was supposed to, I heard about those memorable occasions he got in trouble, unable to resist sailing just a little farther, sailing a little longer than he was supposed to. He was also a free diver and liked to spear fish. When he was older, he worked as a shrimper for a time, but when he was a kid in Mobile, he sometimes worked on head boats with his friend John Turner.

    One of my favorite stories is that they would cut bait right next to the sickest-looking tourist fishing that day, showing off the bloody bits, pushing the inlanders beyond queasy. When they got sick the boys would take over the rod to catch fish for themselves. 

    I grew up sitting on the trampoline next to Dad on his 18 foot Hobie Cat, "The Talisman." It had a furling jib, which was often responsibility to tend. I soaked up so much more than I ever realized until Laura and I bought a 16 foot Hobie Cat the same month our son Eli was born. From the first time we launched it, my hands knew what to do from those years of watching and feeling how to sail next to my dad: trimming the sails taking short turns at the tiller. Now we sail our third Hobie Cat off the Port Aransas beach. It was made the year I was born. I am delighted to hand the tiller over to Eli, and teach him what I know even as I continue to learn. He's picking it up quickly, and I'm sure my Grandad, and Eli's Papa enjoy seeing the fourth generation of Derkits gulf coast sailors.







 

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