the
2006 Wayfarer Midwinters East
Lake Eustis SC, Eustis, FL * Feb. 3-5
pre-Midwinters fun - 1
(from home to St. Pete's)
photos by Marc Bennett and Uncle Al
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For Marc and me,
departure day was Thursday, January 26th as soon as Marc
could reach Oakville after work.
This scene in Al's driveway typifies the lack of winter
our area had been having.
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We made our first stop
in Detroit about three hours after our suppertime
departure. Here we met up with Nick Seraphinoff at his
home near the Tunnel. Nick was bringing his newly
acquired Flying Dutchman to Florida, specifically to St.
Petersburg where a big FD regatta was taking place on
the week-end, and where Nick hoped to "pick a few
brains". In his
room, Marc had lots of ...
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... company!
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After a short sleep,
we departed Nick's at 0400 hrs in weather that felt more
like October than January. We hoped to reach ...
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... Chattanooga, TN
by late afternoon.
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And here we are in
Chattanooga ...
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... right on
time!! Marc was taking the
pictures but Nick was unavailable for a pose beside
his FD (above) since after 12+ hours on the
road, he had rushed into the hotel to spend half an
hour on the treadmill! What a guy!! And then he still
had enough left over to charm our very nice waitress
at the Texas Longhorn.
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On the Saturday, we
reached Florida by mid-afternoon. At this rest area, we
quickly changed for Florida.
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In a flash,
Uncle Al had replaced his long johns with his Tilleys.
Our loose convoy parted company south of Ocala where
Nick stayed on I-75 to St. Pete's while Marc and I
headed east on Route 44 to Eustis where we were
planning to drop the boat off
and stay the night at Mike
and Dotty Murto's new house. This whole trip was
remarkable in that we had perfect driving weather all
the way - not a drop of rain nor a flake of snow - and
everything went exactly as planned.
At the Lake Eustis SC, Marc and I
quickly had some of the draft beer with which Mike
Murto welcomed us to the LESC as always, rigged SHADES,
went to the Quarterdeck for a delicious
seafood dinner with some of the LESC gang, followed
Mike and Dotty home, were impressed with their
spacious, new digs (a double-wide trailer), and
collapsed into bed.
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Sunday, we dawdled
back across Florida by way of the charming town of
Inverness.
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Marc used to own some
property outside of Inverness and it has a great
used book store which alas, was closed on this day.
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We made our
early-afternoon rendez-vous with Nick at the very busy
Sailing Centre in St. Pete's where ...
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... Marc (l) and Nick compared his FD to the real racing
machines. Still no rain - but we would pay for this
later!
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While Nick stayed at
the Sailing Centre to pick more brains, buy sails, etc.,
Marc and I scouted out
accommodations for the three of us, settling on a Best
Western in Treasure Island right ...
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... on a lovely Gulf
Coast ...
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... beach.
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Right next door on the
beach was a Tiki Bar to which we were lured by ...
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... the sounds of live
music: Chuck Cobb, the resident musician, was a joy to
listen to. I ended up buying
two of his CDs before he ended his final set early due
to fingers that were numb from the increasing cold.
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Marc, however, was nice
and cozy in his Wayfarer Worlds top as he ...
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... took his Bud for a
walk to ...
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... the water's ...
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... edge.
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Uncle Al, too, is
happy to be here!
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As we got
indoors to get out of the increasingly cool winds and
overcast, we got a call from Nick who had discovered
that the Sailing Centre would not allow him to leave
his FD there for a day or two. He was now looking for
a marina and would get back to us. Considerably after
we had showered in preparation for dinner out, Nick
finally got back to us. He had located a marina not
too far from the hotel but it was closed for the
night. He had however located Mungo, who lived near
by, and for $20 would let Nick's FD join the
debauchery in progress outside of Mungo's humble if
not slummy home. But first, Nick had had to drive a
"friend" of Mungo's home, halfway across town. Having
met these guardians of his boat, Nick had few hopes of
ever seeing his (uncovered) boat and its gear ever
again. But be that as it may, Nick assured us that he
would be at the hotel within minutes would shower
quickly, and then go ...
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... to dinner with us
at ...
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... Sculley's
(see photo above, taken the following morning). We
had a great meal, an interesting waitress and a lot of
fun. As we wandered back to the car, Nick said: "You
know, this looks a lot like the area where Mungo
lives." And sure enough, there was the FD, safely
parked in front of a place that looked quite
respectable once the party goers had departed. And ...
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... the boat was still there and unscathed in
front of the House of Mungo when
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... Nick arrived to
take it back the following morning.
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By now the rain had
settled in over the Tampa area but the good news was
that our "destination du jour"
the Sanibel-Captiva area - a mere two hours' south - was
expecting warm sunshine all day.
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