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.