“Better late than never;” “If not now, when?” “Now or Never!” The Fort Pierce Christmas Boat Parade finally took place this weekend. Boats lit up like Las Vegas, decorated with Santa Clauses on surf boards, and sporting sound systems designed for communication with lunar stations paraded past the dock. Every kind of boat was represented from small fishing skiffs to tug boats to sailboats whose masts provided the perfect support for strings of lights. The parade was a good excuse for a waterfront party, as if an excuse were ever needed. We accompanied some of the Dock 6 Bubba and Bubbette club to Cracker Boy Boatworks where we joined Rich and Cindy on “s/v Shapa-ay” (gateway to the stars) and about 30 other people for smoked ham, beer-soaked brats and an assortment of other dishes. You can have your white Christmas; palm trees, warm breezes and beautifully decorated boats almost turned this Scrooge into a believer.

A couple of nights prior to the parade, we took in the “son et lumière” at the waterfront park. Multi-colored lights affixed to every surface were synched to Christmas music. The park was filled with people and children chased each other with squeals of delight. The whole scene, illuminated as it was with the lights and surrounded by music was truly magical. I must say, Fort Pierce knows how to do Christmas.

Yesterday was Sunday—all you can eat champagne brunch at Mangrove Mattie’s. We heard that they had “all you can eat” oysters on the half shell. We knew we could get our money’s worth; we can put away a lot of raw oysters. Five and a half dozen each is our record, but we know we can do better! So we figured we’d work on a new record. Wow! What a brunch buffet; salads, lox with capers, a whole smoked salmon, roast beef, salmon and grouper poached in cream sauce, raw oysters, steamed mussels, pastries, waffles, omelettes cooked to order. All of this was served with bottomless glasses of champagne (or Mimosas if you are inclined to desecrate a perfectly good glass of champagne with orange juice!). The shear variety of food soon enticed us to abandon our search for a new record and we stopped after two dozen each.

The “Spartite” is finally poured around the mast where it passes through the deck. I think it will finally solve the problem of leaks and will definitely keep the mast in place. The next project will be to install a new roller furler and then adjust all the stays. The work will be finished before Christmas and we can be on our way. However, we will stay until after Christmas in Fort Pierce where we have friends.

The Conga Line

Alas. A rained out boat parade. But never fear! There is another Saturday – next!!! It’s been raining all day. The mast is running water, big time. But my trusty Boy Scout read somewhere, sometime about such a situation (maybe not a mast) whereby you tie a line around the upright and leave a long end – the line catches the leaks and the water runs down the line into a bucket!!! Ah. Knew there was a reason I’ve kept him around for 38 years!!

Just talked to our friends, Jim & ‘conga’-Ellie, s/v FinniRish, and they are worn out!! 14 bridges from here to where they are 13 miles north of Las Olas. They are finished with bridges. But they have 6 more to go tomorrow! A stiff gin and tonic is helping unwind the tensions of the day! Must explain the “conga” . . . the awful thing about this otherwise really nice marina is the finger piers. Ours is only about 10 -12 feet long and starts out at the dock at maybe 2 ½ feet wide and narrows down to maybe 2 feet! And it is wobbly!! I am petrified of walking those few feet!! Ellie suggested going behind Peter (whom it doesn’t bother in the least – same with Jim) and hanging on to him. It works!! The other night we went to their boat for night caps and Ellie said “Ok, let’s form the conga line!” So we did!!! I am getting better and not gripping too hard – no wedgies!



Today is Monday and we have seen the sun all day!!! Our friend, Bill, on s/v Memento Mori from, you guessed it, Dock 6 arrived today! And according to observers, his single-handed docking was flawless. Another Dock 6 reunion (say, “dock party”) is in the works!!!

We are tied up in front of the Harbor Cove Restaurant--quiet by day but increasingly animated as the colorful stools fill up with patrons at the bar for happy hour.

Reunion

The Dock 6 Bubba and Bubbette reunion has happened. Several of us Dock 6ers gathered at the pavilion at Harbortown to catch up on everything important and everything trivial. It was good to see Dave and Lori, Don and Ann and Ray and Sandy. Dan and Nancy whose boat “s/v Maja” spent some time on Dock 6 a couple of years ago, joined us.

While we all enjoyed our sundowners and getting together again, we were joined by Gray, a short guy with a stylishly stubby kind of beard and a ten gallon straw hat properly curved down fore and aft. His shirt was unbuttoned to several inches below his Adam’s apple and grey, curly hair showed through. Gray was raised on a boat by his mother and father from Crossville, TN. He regrets that he cannot remember if his father ever put his arms around him. He describes himself as a coward. However, he related an episode from his high school days that reveals a hidden courage in his character. It seems that there was a boy in the school, Beau Gay by name. Poor Beau was the object of ridicule and bullying. One day, the bullies were demanding that Beau lie in the dirt and eat grass. Gray approached the bullies and said, “Mah name’s Gray. Ah live on a boat. You leave this boy alone or Ah’ll whup yer ass!” He never had to “whup their ass” and they never bothered Beau again.






Then, a couple of nights later, we all gathered at 12A Buoy for a fine supper. We were joined by Jim and Ellie whose boat “s/v FinniRish” spent time on Dock 5 this year. Then there were Chuck and Renee, “s/v Second Wind.” We met Chuck and Renee at the City Marina when we first landed at Ft Pierce. Chuck rushed over to greet us and virtually thrust his car keys into our hands saying, “Borrow it anytime.”



The bad news is that we will be in Ft Pierce for a while. The good news is that we could be stuck in worse places. The roller furler foil on our forestay is kinked at a joint indicating that the joining sleeve is broken there. All of our stays and shrouds are too loose. This is not a result of the problem with the mast. The shrouds are actually tighter now than before. However, I’ve always suspected that they were too loose. In examining the problem with the foil, the rigger said that everything was too loose. The fix will involve shortening all the stays. In doing so, the attachments will have to be replaced and the roller furler will have to be dismantled. In question is the availability of parts to repair the furler. They may have to come from Sweden or they may not even be available! Stay tuned for later developments.

Beethoven, step aside!

Sunday. Harbortown Marina.
Ahhhh. . . back on the water
It is so very nice to be back on the water.
The shiny new maststep that Joey at Riverside Marine made fit perfectly. And, with the help of a couple fellow sailors, the re-masting went flawlessly. A halyard slapping on the mast is an annoying noise. But it was music to our ears because it meant that our mast was back where it belongs and not lying across sawhorses!!! Beethoven, step aside!

Saturday morning we “splashed” at about 10:30 and by 11 were safely snug in a slip here at Harbortown Marina. A word about our stay “on the hard”. The yard name is Riverside Marina. It is huge. It is a family run do it yourself yard: Sally, mom, runs the office, Jason, son, runs the all important travel lift (that takes boats out of the water and ‘splashes’ them back in), Joey, son, is a welder. All in all really nice, helpful people. A yard to recommend in this area.

Yesterday was mainly spent just enjoying being here and on the water. We found 3 boats from our Brunswick Dock #6. Two will spend the winter here the third is as yet undecided. I’m sure a Dock 6 reunion is in our future! We went to the onsite restaurant for supper. We shared. The crab stuffed artichokes had too much breading but the artichokes were good. And the hamburger was good. This afternoon Ray and Sandy (dock 6ers) will pick us up and we will go to the Christmas parade in town. Should be fun.

We will need a couple of days to put things back in order. We have to tighten all the stays, put the boom back on the mast, hoist the sails and reinstall the radar. Then, we have to wait for decent weather for our trip down to Ft Lauderdale.

Alas. What a difference a day makes. Problems – big time! The forestay and shrouds all need to be shortened. Aggg. The rigger will be back this afternoon to take measurements etc.