St. Michael's June 2005

As told by Claire...

Friday morning came quick, we had traveled up to Maryland a week before to spend 5 wonderful days sailing around the Chesapeake Bay. Friday morning at 10:00 am we left Rock Hall, headed south, picked up Puppy Love and were on our way arriving at our destination by noon.

Rumor had it that at least 10 or 11 boats were registered for the show, so we decided to put the boat in the water and secure a dock spot. We'll clean the boat later. Off to the ramp, I drop Marty and The Pup in and proceed to drive the trailer back to the hotel for storage. After 5 attempts of backing the trailer straight I finally got it! None too quick because Tom Law pulled in after me and I didn't want him to see the problem I was having. He parked his trailer no problem bastard. Gotta work on the backing up thing.

Headed down to the dock with cleaning bucket in hand, ready to make her pretty. It was quite the job because she had been outside in the elements for over a week while we were sailing and she needed quite a bit of cleaning up. When I got to the boat the pressure was on, Phil and his Glory Days docked next to us and he had already finished his cleaning and polishing. He even went one step beyond by coiling the dock lines what's next with him?

Kenny  Germershausen, builder of Baron boats stopped by and took a spin with Gary Jones in Gary's "Red Baron". Hopefully Kenny will be able to give us a interview next year about himself and Baron boats.

The boats started arriving one by one and sometimes by two. Everyone was securing places and exchanging greetings. Met up with Marguerite McGowan and reminded her about that St. Mike's shopping trip Sandy promised her after the Marathon incident Sandy mumbled a few choice words

The Patriot River cruise was the thing to do Friday night, so we left the docks early to freshen up in order to board the boat by 6 pm. It was a nice relaxing ride and I even got to drive the boat! Heavy hor'deouvors was on the menu so after the ride we headed to the local fish house for all you can eat crabs and soft shelled clams.

Saturday morning came quick. Marty and Phil headed down to the docks while Jean and I were able to sleep in a little. One last cleaning of the boats and the day began! A total of 11 skiffs arrived at the show:

Puppy Love

Glory Days

Sun Kissed (Jeff LaMarco's new boat)

Cloud Nine

Red Baron

Pure Adrenaline

Hops A Lot

Nikki

Hot Tub

Sir Alter Ego

Georgia Peach

In addition a number of past skiffers and skiffers who didn't bring their boats also arrived including:

Bud Bender

Ronnie Zuback

Bob Presley

Charlie Boland

Tommy Donley

There were quite a few highlights during Saturday:

Bud Bender made the show again! It's always a pleasure to see him and even better to get him in a boat. Speaking of boats, Marty took Bud (now 78 years young) for a ride in Puppy Love. As soon as they got out of his daughter's sight, Bud kicked Marty out of the driver's seat! Way to go Bud!

Ronnie Zuback and wife Jane were unexpected guests. I later found out that he was completely overwhelmed by all the skiffs present and the camaraderie we all share with each other. He refused offers for a ride, but I was told the next day that he really wishes he did take us up on the offer... maybe next year? Ron was the builder of So Slo, the boat that made the skiffs re-write the rules all over. No skiff in that era was able to beat Ron's boat with his Ford motor. (See "So Slow" in Boats By Name section).

The Marine Police scolded the skiffs again.  It was Marty's turn to egg on / welcome a new driver at our event. Jeff recently rebuilt "Sun kissed" and this was her maiden voyage. Marty just couldn't resist buzzing him and making Jeff chase him. It's just something magical that happens whenever a skiff buzzes you. Jeff took the bait first time (Like most new skiffers) and off they were running like two dogs in heat sizing up each other. Fortunately, Jeff hadn't had a chance to really tune her in so Marty became the alpha dog. They ran a couple times out there and just when Marty felt he had Jeff in submission, he flew by wetting Bill and Marty. Well, off they go to re establish dominance when Marty realized Jeff was running to shore with no holds bared.  Shoreline comes quick at 75 to 80 mph, but running to the Sheriff sure is quicker. Marty met the infamous finger wiggling "come here boy". All of a sudden the Big Dog appearance is transformed into a Pup. "Boy who do you think you are running 80 miles an hour in MY CHANNEL! This is MY Channel and MY river. Marty felt like he should to roll over on his back as they were scolded. HE WAS THE BIG "A" DOG. Who's in charge? neither Jeff nor Marty would say a word. "I was told see #44 in the water, he's in charge was his reply". The officer barked out his demands of what he expected of us than disappeared. Something like, If I see a boat with a shaft or prop visible both occupants better be wearing a life vest, If I see anyone running within the mooring field it will be their last run for the weekend, If I see anyone coming down my channel doing anything over the 35 mph speed limit they will be on the trailer. You can run as fast as you want just stay away from the other pleasure boats. Jeff was only too happy to comply, his boat has no registration numbers. As with most of our events the Marine Police always accommodate us because most have met us in the past. Marty thinks he was still alpha dog over Jeff.

Phil polished his boat a few more times so what else is new.

Skip's newly purchased boat, Nikki, made her debut and amazingly he didn't break anything! It did sound rough by the end of the day, hope the floats get adjusted!.

Numerous people were taken for skiff rides - too many to count!

Jim Hassfeld melted a coil in Sir Alter Ego & didn't finish the day, but was running again Sunday.

Huck Sanders spent 1/2 of a day with his butt hanging out of the engine, that darn timing!

Bud's granddaughter, Caroline went for a ride with Huck after he finally got his boat working.  Caroline told him the only way she would prefer to go is if she drove!

Marty broke a fan belt

Tommy Donley got behind the wheel of Glory Days something he hasn't done in 20 years with his old riding partner Jim (see "Punk"  in Boats by Name section)

The entire group agreed that it was a great weekend! Some new friends were made, some old friends were reacquainted, and some hatchets were even buried.

Sunday morning came too quickly and since Marty was unsuccessful in finding a new belt for the boat we decided to head south.

Along the way we received a call from Phil Jordan, who stayed behind to attend the awards luncheon.  Phil competed and won the Best Race Boat at the show and we won the Competitors Choice Award! Not too bad, have a great time and come home with some hardware!

Next year we will attempt to get the wood boat racers and designers to this show and or to Mount Dora for a reunion and photo shoot with the old timers driving.

Next trip, Sweat and Spray at Cypress Gardens!