They say opportunity knocks but once and if that is so we are hopelessly lost.
We are still at The Moorings in Carrabelle and the boat will be here for at least a month but we will not. How exactly did all this happen? Well that is what I am about to tell you but first let me catch some of you up on some of our friends you have met through these ramblings.
Seabiscuit, the beautifully restored 1964 Chris Craft Roamer, owned by Bill and Pam was last reported having run aground on the way to Apalachicola and it took three trawlers and a towboat to get her loose. She limped into Apalachicola only to discover there was no lift capable of pulling her out to assess damages so they moved on to Carrabelle and had her hauled. There was damage alright. Both props trashed and both rudders bent. The props needed a specialist and the best is in St. Andrews near Panama City not a block from where we had docked. They rented a car and headed that way. The prop shop is right behind Hunt’s Oyster Bar where the lady said “Gimmee a beer.” The Maleys ate at Hunt’s sitting at the bar just like we did while the props were given a rush job.
Meanwhile new rudders are being fabricated in Carrabelle. Not just any rudders but stainless steel rudders! Bill wanted them to match the custom German anchor. You really need to see this boat.
So about three o’clock today there was a knock on our boat and who was there but Bill and Pam. They have checked into the motel at our marina while Seabiscuit gets reassembled. She should be ready by Monday with luck. We all went to dinner at the James Bay Country Club tonight and had a ball.
Kismet and 20BUCK$ are gone. Kismet crossed the Gulf last night and they got slammed. Everyone was sick and the African Gray Zippy had his cage turned over and now refuses to come out. 20BUCK$ left Apalachicola this morning and went to Steinhatchee. They had a bit of a rough ride but not nearly as bad as the others. Tomorrow they intend to go to Tarpon Springs and I will bet they turn out to be the smart ones with the weather.
We, on the other hand, have likely missed an opportunity to cross if our personal weather guru proves correct and that is the theme of our last story of the night.
This morning all weather predictions by the AGLCA weather wizard and various other friends seemed to point to no opportunity to go tomorrow so at breakfast we notified Jim Peeler that he should consider canceling his trip and we would wait and see but saw little chance of success. We even made arrangements to leave the boat here for a month and go home for Christmas early. The weather was projected to be windy and high seas so we saw no chance of any change but reserved final plans until we spoke to the Commander at our Central Command.
To get to the inevitable point, Peeler agreed to back out and you guessed it, our guru gives us a report mid-afternoon that Friday will be near perfect except we can’t go. You see we have a one vote veto aboard Cbay and the Admiral exercised her vote. We had no buddy boat to go with us and Peeler was not on a plane winging our way. So we gave the boat a good Kool Aid wash and are set to be picked up by members of Team Bell, my bike riding group, on Monday. On Friday we will reconvene our weather conference and see whether we dodged a bullet or let opportunity’s knock go unheeded. Tune in tomorrow to see which guru was right. My money is on the Commander. I have known him since I was 8 years old and he is seldom wrong especially if the stakes are high.
We are still at The Moorings in Carrabelle and the boat will be here for at least a month but we will not. How exactly did all this happen? Well that is what I am about to tell you but first let me catch some of you up on some of our friends you have met through these ramblings.
Seabiscuit, the beautifully restored 1964 Chris Craft Roamer, owned by Bill and Pam was last reported having run aground on the way to Apalachicola and it took three trawlers and a towboat to get her loose. She limped into Apalachicola only to discover there was no lift capable of pulling her out to assess damages so they moved on to Carrabelle and had her hauled. There was damage alright. Both props trashed and both rudders bent. The props needed a specialist and the best is in St. Andrews near Panama City not a block from where we had docked. They rented a car and headed that way. The prop shop is right behind Hunt’s Oyster Bar where the lady said “Gimmee a beer.” The Maleys ate at Hunt’s sitting at the bar just like we did while the props were given a rush job.
Meanwhile new rudders are being fabricated in Carrabelle. Not just any rudders but stainless steel rudders! Bill wanted them to match the custom German anchor. You really need to see this boat.
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Kismet and 20BUCK$ are gone. Kismet crossed the Gulf last night and they got slammed. Everyone was sick and the African Gray Zippy had his cage turned over and now refuses to come out. 20BUCK$ left Apalachicola this morning and went to Steinhatchee. They had a bit of a rough ride but not nearly as bad as the others. Tomorrow they intend to go to Tarpon Springs and I will bet they turn out to be the smart ones with the weather.
We, on the other hand, have likely missed an opportunity to cross if our personal weather guru proves correct and that is the theme of our last story of the night.
This morning all weather predictions by the AGLCA weather wizard and various other friends seemed to point to no opportunity to go tomorrow so at breakfast we notified Jim Peeler that he should consider canceling his trip and we would wait and see but saw little chance of success. We even made arrangements to leave the boat here for a month and go home for Christmas early. The weather was projected to be windy and high seas so we saw no chance of any change but reserved final plans until we spoke to the Commander at our Central Command.
To get to the inevitable point, Peeler agreed to back out and you guessed it, our guru gives us a report mid-afternoon that Friday will be near perfect except we can’t go. You see we have a one vote veto aboard Cbay and the Admiral exercised her vote. We had no buddy boat to go with us and Peeler was not on a plane winging our way. So we gave the boat a good Kool Aid wash and are set to be picked up by members of Team Bell, my bike riding group, on Monday. On Friday we will reconvene our weather conference and see whether we dodged a bullet or let opportunity’s knock go unheeded. Tune in tomorrow to see which guru was right. My money is on the Commander. I have known him since I was 8 years old and he is seldom wrong especially if the stakes are high.