posted
Seeking adventure, the Shortreeds and Don Coplen headed south from Saintpete to Fort Myers/Cape Coral (FL) for a visit at my place.
Friday night, we hung out, talking and messing with guitars.
Saturday, a sailing trip was in order! I can't seem to get the theme song from Gilligans Island out of my head. I invited a couple of my sailing buddies to join us, (Randy and Jim) mainly so I didn't have to bark orders at Steve & Barb. lol
We were leaving the dock when it became quite obvious that barnicals had invaded some very important elements of the boat bottom. Okay, so hey, we're gonna be sailing anyway, we don't need no stinking prop! We're still in the canal and we hoist the mainsail.
We're moving, alright...Ha!
Next, we're attempting to navigate a corner and the helm isn't responding. Sheesh, this is when things really start happening FAST! Heading straight for the seawall on the other side, Don is fending us off (without a scratch, to him or the boat, ha!) and Jim is taking the sail back down. We coast aways up and tie off at an abandonded dock.
Randy strips down to his swimming trunks to brave the less than warm waters to rid the prop and the rudder of those nasty crustations. Jim and I examine the works of the throttle, rig and lube and we're ready for more action! Holy cow, we've barely left the dock and all this excitement!
I have to wonder what Steve and Barb were thinking at this point.
Once again we were off the dock and heading out to sea...We took a short sail over to an island and anchored. Randy challenged the barnicals one more time, the ones on the prop were'nt giving it up.
Okay, so we made it out, certainly we can make it back in...
We sat on the hook and ate. Randy's girlfiend Denise, caught a ride on a power boat and joined us for sunset.
A dingy is heading for us, it's another one of my sailing buddies, Arnie. Knowing our situation, he came to pilot us to the dock... We sailed into the canal until we lost the wind and he took over from there. There was minimal scrambling at the dock, a sigh of relief and a 'boy was that fun'.
Steve, Don and Randy's neice, Kim had a guitar jam session on dock while we tidied the boat. Steve was fascinated by the fact that Kim had worked closely with a porn star, Annie Sprinkle.
It's Saturday evening and we're on our way to a local watering hole, Shuckers. We met up with Captain Morgan and his wife Ana, seat ourselves outside and prepare to listen to the tunes and nastalgia of our friend 'Wooly Bully'. He's a riot and plays an awesome trumpet and sax.
The night ain't over yet! Morgan has spent the last 58 hours bringing his newly acquired gaff rig schooner 'ship' over from the east coast. He was wound up! All agree that this is a must see. We spent an hour or so on the schooner, dreaming of what we could do with it. Steve thinks we should all dress up like pirates and terrorize power boaters! lol
We kicked back on Sunday, played guitar and had Easter Dinner. Before they headed out, (back to Saintpete) we made a quick trip to the shop for a look see.
My cats have crawled out of hiding and think they own the place again...well, I guess things are back to normal!
Thanks for the visit you guys, I had a wonderful time. I'm sure it'll be quite awhile before you forget your 'three hour tour'...
Steve, how's the sunburn on yer bum?
Cher.
-------------------- Co-Host: SANDCASTLE Panel Jam 'a Dixie Letterhead Reunion' Fort Myers, Florida
Cheryl Lucas a/k/a "Shag" on mIRC Vital Signs & Graphics, Etc. Cape Coral, Florida 239-574-4713 VSignsNgraphics@aol.com Posts: 987 | From: Cape Coral, FL USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
Sounds like a typical day on the water to me! Tell yer buddy to just bring her into fresh water and the barnicles will die. Sharks and dolphins do it and it works for them. Beats scraping any day.
Glad y'all made it in OK and managed to have a good time. We had heavy rain most of the day today.
Thanks for the heads up! Remind Steve and Barb to do a 'drive-by' the wild parot scene, I think Don said there are plenty of them down by the pier.
Kathy, not much 'fresh' water in these parts, but I'm curious, how long would I have to bob around to rid them crustations? Looks like a haul out is in order, if there's any serious sailing (or motoring for that matter) to be had!
Hey Monte, I'm sure you've had some 'hairy' chaos happen to you too, I figure if those things didn't happen, you'd never know how to handle it. I hope to sail with ya someday.
Steve and Don took some nice pic's, hopefully they'll post a few shots.
Cher.
-------------------- Co-Host: SANDCASTLE Panel Jam 'a Dixie Letterhead Reunion' Fort Myers, Florida
Cheryl Lucas a/k/a "Shag" on mIRC Vital Signs & Graphics, Etc. Cape Coral, Florida 239-574-4713 VSignsNgraphics@aol.com Posts: 987 | From: Cape Coral, FL USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
My easter was somewhat similar..............Put the boat (Catalina22) in on saturday mornin, nose in to the beach, just about to get under way.........some friends stop by (in another boat) tie up right behind me, well, pleasantries over, they get under way, I'm left high and dry, stuck, not goin anywhere.
I had to wait for the next high tide, 10pm saturday night. thats fine, stayed on board over night, gonna get some good sailin in sunday.......WRONG!! Keel has jammed due to bein "stuck in the mud"
Put her back on the trailer, take her home fer some maintenance...............bugga!!
RobC
P.S. you really think Steve and Barb are gonna catch the "sailin bug"???
-------------------- Rob Clark Rob Clark Design 11 Lassig st Moore Park Queensland Australia 0741598092 Posts: 421 | From: Australia | Registered: May 1999
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