Bob Dylan's Fishing Boat Adventures: Fact Or Fiction?

Bob Dylan's 1975 song Tangled Up in Blue includes the lyric I had a job in the great north woods / Working as a cook for a spell / But I never did like it all that much / And one day the ax just fell / So I drifted down to New Orleans / Where I lucky was to be employed / Working for a while on a fishing boat / Right outside of Delacroix.

Dylan's love of sailing is well-documented, and he has been photographed on boats on multiple occasions. He owned a 63-foot sailboat called the Water Pearl, which was built for him in 1979 on the island of Bequia. He sailed the Caribbean with his family for ten years, until the Water Pearl was wrecked on a reef near the Panama Canal in 1988.

Bob Dylan's schooner, the Water Pearl

Dylan and Bowman's partnership began when Bowman showed photos of his boat, the Just Now, to a friend who was working for a contractor building a house for Dylan in Malibu. The contractor became obsessed with the idea of owning a big traditional boat built in Bequia and convinced Dylan to go in with him on it. Together, they commissioned Bowman to build them a 63-foot schooner on the beach in Bequia in just a year.

Over a year later, the boat wasn't finished, and the contractor wanted to bail. Bowman saved the situation by giving the contractor the Just Now in exchange for his half-share of the unfinished schooner. This is how Dylan and Bowman became partners.

Dylan and Bowman owned the Water Pearl for several years, during which Bowman got to know Dylan better than most. Dylan invited Bowman, and later Bowman's wife and young daughter, to join him on tour. Bowman travelled with the star on three different tours and got a bird's-eye view of life on the road with famous rock stars.

The Water Pearl met an untimely end when it sank on a reef near the Panama Canal entrance in 1988.

Dylan's sailing partner, Chris Bowman

In Bequia, Bowman landed in the middle of the island's boatbuilding scene and soon became close with master builder Loren Dewar, sailmaker Lincoln "Bluesy" Simmons, and other locals who were keeping the traditional craft alive. With their help, Bowman repaired his boat and then built a new one from scratch—a 40-foot gaff sloop he named JUST NOW.

Bowman and Dylan's partnership began quite haphazardly. After Bowman finished building JUST NOW, he visited family in California and reconnected with an old friend who was working for a contractor building a house for Dylan in Malibu. Bowman showed his friend photos of JUST NOW, and his friend showed them to his boss, who became obsessed with the idea of owning a big traditional boat built in Bequia. He convinced Dylan to go in with him on it, and together they commissioned Bowman to build them a 63-foot schooner on the beach in Bequia in just a year.

Over a year later, the boat wasn't finished, and the contractor wanted to bail. Bowman saved the situation with a compromise: he gave the contractor JUST NOW in exchange for his half-share of the unfinished schooner.

"Well, I guess we are partners now," Bowman said to Dylan.

"Yeah... I guess we are," Dylan replied. "Hang on a minute and I'll get you my numbers."

Over the several years that Bowman owned the boat with Dylan, he got to know the singer better than most. In his memoir, Bowman makes it clear that Dylan is, at his core, unknowable. Bowman understood that the famous troubadour was shy and diffident around strangers and avoided social situations that put him at the center of attention.

One of Bowman's favorite scenes in the book takes place when he is taking Dylan ashore to a party on Bequia and realizes that if they arrive together, Dylan will likely be mobbed by curious locals. So he stops at the anchorage at PLUMBELLY and leaves Dylan to visit with Klaus Alvermann, continuing on alone.

One of the interesting things about Bowman's relationship with Dylan is that it seems Bowman spent more time in Dylan's world than Dylan spent in his. Early on, the singer invited Bowman, and later Bowman's wife and young daughter, to join him on tour. In all, Bowman traveled with the star on three different tours and got a fine bird's-eye view of life on the road with famous rock stars.

The sad end of the story is that Bowman ultimately lost the boat, WATER PEARL, on a reef near the Panama Canal entrance in 1988.

Bowman's memoir, 'Me, the Boat and a Guy Named Bob'

Bob Dylan, the famously opaque character, has had a long and varied career. One of the more mysterious episodes of his life concerns a boat he once owned. It is almost mythical, the stuff of legend among sailors in the Caribbean. But it is true: the last large traditional schooner built on the island of Bequia, Water Pearl, launched in December 1979, was built for Bob Dylan and his partner, Chris Bowman, originally from California.

In his memoir, Me, the Boat and a Guy Named Bob, Bowman shares the full story of Dylan's career as a West Indies schooner man. Bowman fell into the life of a seafaring vagabond when he was young, starting in the Seychelles in the western Indian Ocean. After crewing across the Atlantic, he arrived in the Caribbean and soon found himself in a boat of his own, a small, nearly derelict local sloop, Corsair, that he found on a beach in Prickly Bay, Grenada. He and a friend sailed Corsair up to Bequia in 1975 and barely made it, ending up sailing the boat hard onto the beach there to save it from sinking.

It was a fortunate stranding, as Bowman had landed right in the middle of Bequia's boat-building scene. He soon became close with master builder Loren Dewar, sailmaker Lincoln "Bluesy" Simmons, and the whole tribe of locals who were keeping the traditional craft alive. With their help, Bowman repaired Corsair and then built himself a new boat from scratch, a 40-foot gaff sloop he named Just Now.

To many, the most interesting part of this book is Bowman's granular description of the process of building Just Now. The forays into "the bush" to find appropriately shaped trees, felling them by hand, and man-hauling out the raw lumber. Framing up a hull on a beach, with nothing but eyeballs and hand tools to make it fair. Traveling to Guyana to buy and mill silver bali lumber for the planking. The wheeling and dealing necessary to lay hands on hardware and get it shipped to Bequia. It's all fascinating stuff.

But the parts about Bob Dylan are also very interesting. He and Bowman fell into their partnership quite haphazardly. Soon after he finished building Just Now, Bowman happened to be visiting family in California and reconnected with an old buddy who was working for a high-powered contractor building a house for Dylan in Malibu. Bowman showed his friend photos of the boat he'd just launched in Bequia, his friend showed these to his boss, and the boss was soon obsessed with the idea of owning a big traditional boat built in Bequia. He convinced Dylan to go in with him on it, and together they commissioned Bowman to build them a 63-foot schooner on the beach in Bequia in just a year.

Over a year later, not surprisingly, the boat wasn’t finished. The contractor got snappy and wanted to bail, and Bowman saved the situation with a compromise: he gave the contractor Just Now in exchange for his half-share of the unfinished schooner.

“Well, I guess we are partners now,” Bowman said to Dylan after the swap was agreed to.

“Yeah… I guess we are,” answered Dylan. “Hang on a minute and I’ll get you my numbers.”

Over the several years Bowman owned the boat with Dylan, it’s fair to say he got to know the man better than most. He shares much of this knowledge with his readers, but still, he makes it clear that Dylan, at his core, is unknowable. Bowman understood very quickly that the famous troubadour was shy and diffident around strangers and avoided social situations that put him at the center of attention.

One of the interesting things about Bowman’s relationship with Dylan is that it seems Bowman in fact spent more time in Dylan’s world than Dylan spent in his. Early on, the singer invited his schooner buddy, and later Bowman’s wife and young daughter as well, to join him on tour. In all, Bowman traveled with the star on three different tours and got a fine bird’s-eye view of life on the road with famous rock stars.

The sad end of the story is that Bowman ultimately lost Water Pearl on a reef near the Panama Canal entrance in 1988. There’s been a lot of speculation over the years as to how exactly this happened, and Bowman finally tells the tale in full in his memoir. He makes it clear that his willingness to share it publicly has been a long time coming.

Dylan’s reaction when he first heard what happened was, perhaps not surprisingly, pretty sanguine.

“Man,” he told Bowman, “it’s like that reef has been sitting there waiting for you since the very beginning.”

Dylan's Caribbean sailing adventures

Bob Dylan's sailing adventures in the Caribbean are the stuff of legend. In the early 1980s, Dylan built a boat called the Water Pearl, a 63-foot schooner, on the island of Bequia in the Grenadines. He had a partner, Chris Bowman, a shipbuilder from California, who has since shared the story of Dylan's sailing adventures in his memoir, *Me, the Boat and a Guy Named Bob*.

Dylan's love of sailing began when he was young. He fell into the life of a seafaring vagabond, starting in the Seychelles in the western Indian Ocean. After crewing across the Atlantic, he arrived in the Caribbean, where he soon acquired a boat of his own—a sloop called the Corsair.

Dylan and Bowman's partnership began when Bowman showed photos of the boat he had just launched in Bequia to a friend who was working for a contractor building a house for Dylan in Malibu. The contractor became obsessed with the idea of owning a big traditional boat built in Bequia and convinced Dylan to go in with him on it. Together, they commissioned Bowman to build them the Water Pearl.

Over the years, Dylan and Bowman co-owned the Water Pearl, and it's fair to say that Bowman got to know Dylan better than most. In his memoir, Bowman shares his knowledge of Dylan, but maintains that, at his core, Dylan is unknowable. He understood that the famous singer-songwriter was shy and diffident around strangers and avoided social situations that put him at the center of attention.

Sadly, the Water Pearl met an untimely end when it sank on a reef near the Panama Canal entrance in 1988.

Dylan's sailing-inspired music, 'Tangled Up in Blue'

Bob Dylan, the famously opaque American singer-songwriter, is known for his complex lyrical techniques and the incorporation of political, social and philosophical influences in his music. Interestingly, Dylan once co-owned a boat with a partner, Chris Bowman, who shared the story of Dylan's career as a West Indies schooner in his memoir, "Me, the Boat and a Guy Named Bob".

Dylan's song "Tangled Up in Blue", the opening track of his 1975 album "Blood on the Tracks", is considered one of his finest works. The song is a very personal one for Dylan, inspired by his failing marriage and the changes he was going through at the time. The lyrics paint a picture of a relationship in flux, with references to a partner's impending divorce and the narrator's own sense of entanglement and confusion.

The song has been praised for its abstract narrative structure, blending past, present and future together, and its tripping cadences and audacious internal rhymes. The Telegraph described it as "the most dazzling lyric ever written, [...] filled with a painfully desperate longing."

While the meaning of the word "blue" in the song has been debated by fans, Dylan himself has never clarified this moment. However, it is clear that "Tangled Up in Blue" is a powerful and poignant piece of music that has resonated with listeners and critics alike.

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