When personal computer use started to take hold in the early '80's, I bought an Apple IIC and learned how to use it to make my job as a sales manager easier and more productive. Along the way, I somehow morphed into a technical writer for a web hosting company in Ft. Lauderdale. It appealed to my technical side as well as my love for the written word.
After we finished building our lake house in Concord, NC in 2003, I began picking up contract work, as a technical writer, primarily for Wachovia (now Wells Fargo) in Charlotte. I enjoyed the work and the variety of assignments. By 2011, the economy was in tatters and the banks weren't doing much hiring.
Now that it looked like retirement was more of a reality than an option, we could start acting more like retirees. It was time to start planning a winter sailing vacation in Florida.
Our first stop was to visit our good friends Doug and Kelly Young in Coconut Creek, Florida, where we lived for 25 years, raised 2 kids and made many wonderful friends.I had looked at a O'Day 192, when we visiting our friends, Bob and Marcia, in Ft. Meyers the previous winter. The boat was located in Bokeelia on the north end of Pine Island, just north of Ft. Meyers. The owner told me what great a place it was to sail. You had all of the protected water of Charlotte Harbor (270 sq miles) and all of the barrier islands to explore.
We booked a two bedroom condo for the month of February in a place called Burnt Store Marina on Charlotte Harbor. I rented dock space right behind the condo and we were allowed to bring our dog, Buddy.
My long-time friend, Mike McNulty and his wife Marilyn, flew out from California to spend the second week with us. June and Marilyn swapped stores about grandchildren and Mike and I explored Charlotte Harbor, Cayo Costa Island and Boca Grande Pass.
Mike and I have been sharing adventures for more than 40 years and it was a pleasure to have them join us. Just four months earlier, I had flown to LA to join Mike on a 2 week, 3900 mile road trip to hunt upland game birds in Montana. As Mike liked to tell the locals, we were good for the economy and the ecology because we spent a lot of money and didn't kill much.
The highlight of the month was when June and Buddy spent the whole day on boat with me as we sailed more than 25 miles round trip to Cabbage Key (Jimmy Buffet's inspiration for 'Cheese Burger in Paradise') for lunch.
Loren Beaudreau, the owner of a 23 Precision, docked next to Guppy, gave me a lot of sailing tips and advice. The Precision was fast and Loren gave me a taste of burying the rail in the water. He even set me up to crew on a friend's 28' Catalina during the weekly yacht club sailboat race. That proved to be anticlimactic when the wind was a no show. It took 20 minutes to make the last 100 yards to the finish line.
Our son, Patrick, daughter-in-law, Melissa and our two grandsons Jackson and Peter drove over from Ft. Lauderdale to go sailing with us. Four adults, two children and all the unnecessary gear I had stored on board, proved to be too much pressure on Guppy's centerboard pivot bolt. When we returned to the dock, I discovered that the kids had inadvertently turned off bilge pump switch and we had taken on perhaps 50 gallons of water. We were riding pretty low in the water, but I guess an extra 1500 pounds of people, gear and water on a 17' boat will do that.
The homemade roller furler worked great and I was learning how to sail Guppy. I had been looking forward to the opportunity to spend a couple days onboard just gunkholing, but that would have to wait for another time. June had no interest in spending the night aboard Guppy.
We were missing the warmest winter on record in North Carolina and Seanility was still sitting under a tarp waiting for a new owner. Sadly it was time to begin the 13 hour drive North dragging Guppy behind us.
