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2004
Midwinters the trip down: St. Marys, GA to Eustis, FL photos by Marc Bennett, Bill Waller and Uncle Al |
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| By just after
noon, we were on SR40 towards the lovely, little town of
St. Marys on the Georgia-Florida border. .. |
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| By 1400 hrs, we
had arrived to claim our booking at the lovely ... ... |
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| ... Belle
Tara Inn, just a couple of blocks from the
waterfront. .. |
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| We had Above
the Rest, a nice, cozy room under the roof. .. |
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| Soon we rushed
down to the water to check out the waters which we planned to sail the next day with Bill Waller in Betelgeuse (W923). .. |
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| On an overcast
winter's day of about 60ºF, there was little sign of
life apart from these two fishing boats - .. |
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| - and Uncle Al (above)
with Marc, of course. .. |
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| Half an hour
later, we had finally met Bill Waller (r) and
his father-in-law, John Herald (l) in Seagle's
Saloon ... .. |
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... where
we were duly abused and greeted by Queen who had the
nerve to call Uncle Al "Grampa". If you look in the
upper left, you can see Uncle Al's kind of sign: "NO
SNIVELING" which I liked even better than the sign
which announced our bartender as "Cindy Dean, Porno
Queen" (I think!)
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| Sunday morning
dawned overcast and windy (gusts to 20+ knots) with
temperatures in the 40's F. Not a promising sailing day
- but Uncle Al (above) sucked it up - along
with the fine, plentiful Belle Tara Inn coffee. .. |
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| The chart
provided by Bill showed lots of mud flats and lovely
winding channels. .. |
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By just after
0900 hrs, we were at the launch area with Bill and
John. It was not crowded! And we got our first
live, close-up view of W923, Betelgeuse. Bill
had refinished her beautifully but a previous owner
had truly messed with perfection. The cabin was the
most striking feature but there was also an extra set
of spreaders (unnecessarily) added to the mast at the
hounds. The ship's bell is a fine touch. But your
Uncle Al began to get nervous when the cabin hatch
(white) was removed and it dawned on me that the
forward bulkhead had been removed and the forward
flotation compartment replaced by loose-looking sheets
of pink styrofoam. Eeeek! The dark cut-out in the
bottom of the cabin hatch turned out to be a housing
above the centreboard box into which a more delicate,
slimmer hand than mine might have reached to access
the board. But that discovery would come later - as
would the fact that the aft bulkhead had lovely, curvy
cut-outs for spinnaker sheet storage, etc. The back
hatch which was permanently screwed shut, was duly
opened and revealed a back tank crammed with more of
the pink stuff. With the wind gusts whistling in the
trees, Uncle Al was feeling more cautious by the
minute!!
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The sails -
original Lucas sails dating back to 1965! - were
quickly put on but not before we noticed that the jib
clew was ripping apart. Duct tape repair was attempted
but the sails were already wet from the rain, so that
didn't last long. Before long, we were rigged and
ready ...
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... to launch.
Marc still laughs when he recalls how nervous I looked
(above right). Easy for him to laugh
- he and John would be staying ashore to take picture
when the rain wasn't too strong! With the ripping
sails, potentially inadequate buoyancy, gusty winds,
45ºF and totally absence of any boats that might help
in case of trouble, Bill and I had decided we would
just reach back and forth near the ramp for a while.
..Soon we were hanging off the dock and Al showed Bill, a beginning sailor, his routine:
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So, we packed
it in, talked Wayfarers for a while, and had a nice
lunch at John's place. With a three-hour drive back to
his home in Albany, GA, Bill had to leave early. But
Marc and I didn't mind too much since we were planning
to practise for the Midwinters by having a good long
nap at the Belle Tara. We were lulled to
sleep by the wind whistling in the trees and the rain
spattering against windows. The evening was topped off
with a nice supper in Seagle's dining room,
followed by a visit with Queen across the hall where
we enjoyed not only beer but an exciting Super Bowl on
TV.
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| After another
enjoyable breakfast at the inn, we went out to hook up SHADES who showed evidence of last night's breezes. .. |
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| Monday at 0900:
Ready to hit the road for Eustis where we hoped to
arrive by early afternoon. .. |
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| A couple of last
looks at the Belle Tara Inn which ... .. |
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| ... had been our
lovely and friendly home for the past two nights. We
look forward to staying there again!! |