St. Michael's  2006

Got a late start, had to wait for John Gast, but we finally got on the road Thursday morning.

I arrived at St. Mike's about 1:30 PM on Friday after 17 hours of driving.  I was really ready for lunch, a big rum drink and a nap, but Sandy McGugan and Tom Law already had Hops A Lot in the water, it was a beautiful day, and they were taunting me.

So... I cleaned up Heartbeat and in it went.

I went straight to the dock, so far so good, but when I went back to get my Yukon, it had a $40.00 parking ticket on it.  OK, it's time for lunch and a Rum drink, or should I say a Rum Drink and lunch...

The Friday night Sunset Cruise was fun as usual.  Saturday morning came too early, and down to the docks I went.

It was a full day of boating for the 7 Skiffs in the water.  There were 10 in total, 3 were land displays.  On land were two restored Orange Crates - one by Ralph Cattaneo and the other by Skip Gillam; and Rum Runner owned by David Wagoner

In the water were:
1.  Jim Hassfeld - Sir Alter Ego
2.  Sandy & Tom - Hops A Lot
3.  Charlie Boland - Suds
4.  Gary Jones - Red Baron
5.  Al Freihofer - JS 65
6.  Paul Nowack - Heartbeat
7.  John Gast - PaPa's Bundle

We were coming and going all day.  Some people waited over a hour for a ride.  I don't know why they thought we were giving rides, there was no sign that said "Get your Jersey Speed Skiff Rides Here".

My passengers ranged in age from 12 to 50.  They had no idea what they were in for, but wanted to go anyway. What is it about these boats that do that to you?  When we got back to the dock, they all had smiles on there faces and were grateful for the rides.  Imagine, some people think that this is giving Skiffs a Black Eye...

John Gast and I, took two of Bud Benders granddaughters (Carolyn and Mary) out and slow was not in their vocabulary. (Note: out of the 7 Skiffs in the water, 4 of them were Bender's.)

34 hours on the road, 5 hours on Heartbeat, runs with up to 5 Skiffs across, great people, great times,  and a few rum drinks, in 5 days.  I need a nap... PRICELESS!

Hopefully someone took some pictures.  I was too busy.

Paul Nowack

Some pictures from Linda Jewell ( Bud Benders daughter)