Newsletter Summer 2007

"A Country Boy gets a real Key West Welcome! "

Yahoo, Captain Ferdy and crew are back with another late newsletter. It seems with all the fun we are having we neglected to let anyone know what we are doing. To give you a re-cap, in the last newsletter we had just finished reworking Pipe Dream in Fort Lauderdale and were heading for the Florida Keys for the remaining 8 weeks of cruising season. For those of you with the first signs of Alzheimer’s, our insurance company won’t allow us to be in the Caribbean or Florida between June 1 and November 1. It’s some silly thing about hurricane losses. These guys can’t take a joke!
Our first stop was at Key Largo to visit our friends Ray and Kath from Tennessee. We had a wonderful time and made plans to visit their home in Johnson City, Tenn. this summer. Jutta and I moved on to Boot Key Harbor on Marathon Key and spent a few days with Daisy and Ed of the sailing yacht "Siesta." Ed was doing charter adventures with the Boy Scouts and didn't have much time between work. "Uck", just the thought made us nervous, it was time to hit the trail. Our next stop was New Found Harbor to seek refuge from an approaching storm. All night long we were entertained by gale force winds of 40 to 50 knots trying to tear out our anchor. As you can tell, our life is not always a walk in the park!
Our final destination in the Florida Keys was Key West. Yes, that’s the place where men love men and women are safe! Most of my life I have had a love affair with automobiles and all types of racing. Our first day in Key West we saw a poster for drag racing. I convinced Jutta she must go to at least one drag race in her life time to see what goes on. Well, Key West has a new twist on "Drag Racing". It seems all the entries consist of hundreds of drag queens in full garb. Gay men wearing heels, fish net hose, slinky dresses, falsies etc., etc.. The races were held on Duval Street and the format went something like this: Two competitors would take a shot of booze, run through car tires, like we did in high school football practice, but without spike heels, jump into a waiting shopping cart that was then slalomed around plastic cones down several blocks by a pair of muscle men wearing nothing but a thong and tennis shoes. After another shot of something which I’m sure was some type of estrogen cocktail, they jumped back into the shopping cart and were wheeled back to the starting point. This went on all day. It goes to show you there is another side of life out there which a country boy from Yuma is not familiar with! Bed races on Duval Street were on the agenda for the following weekend. We were there enjoying adult beverages along the street with hundreds of other spectators waiting for the race to begin. Two hours after the advertised start time I was told by a policeman that the race would start as soon as all the competitors had tanked enough fuel at the Hog’s Breath Saloon. Well, I think it’s rude to keep a fully certified captain waiting. We skipped the races and enjoyed a blue grass jam at the Green Parrot Saloon instead.
Jutta and I cut the anchor line (pull up the anchor) and sailed back to Marathon Key to pick up Jim and Gail Philo from Arizona. The Philo’s open their home to us homeless sailors every summer. It’s not easy to repay their kindness so we try to roll out the red carpet when they visit Pipe Dream. For ten days we took them sailing through the Florida Keys and back to Miami from where they jumped on a flight back to reality. We sure miss them!
It was time to sail north to leave Pipe Dream in Savannah for Hurricane season. We had left our “Rocket” (the Hyundai) at Sail Harbor Marina in Georgia, ready for our return from the sea. Jutta and I drove back to Arizona the long way, which included a side trip to visit Kath and Ray in Tennessee, and to renew an old friendship with Susie and Larry in Albuquerque. This visiting is sure cheaper than hotels! Remember, never invite a homeless sailor unless you mean it.
After several weeks of being nurtured and well fed by Jim and Gail in Casa Grande, Arizona, Jutta and I flew to Germany to visit Jutta’s mother and to attend her niece’s wedding. We spent a month with German relatives and bummed around Bavaria with a side trip to Paris. In Germany, beer is cheaper than water and I’ve heard you couldn’t drink the water in Europe, so just to be safe I stuck to wine and beer. Being on a budget, I thought it would be a great way to cut a few corners. You know me, always trying to save a buck!!!
Our return to the States was uneventful. The only terrorist attack we encountered was from the luggage handlers in Paris and Atlanta. After our arrival in Atlanta, we were told by Air France that one of our three bags didn’t make it out of Paris. That didn’t bother me; a real man doesn’t need to brush his teeth, comb his hair, or change shoes. We still had most of our clothes in our other two bags. We cleared customs and caught the next flight to visit Jutta’s son, daughter in law, and their brand new baby. On our arrival in Chicago, United had lost our other two bags! I don’t need clothes, I’ll go naked, a la-natural, I just left France. You’ve got to keep a positive attitude while traveling. You know how hard it is to carry those heavy bags out of the airport. That was no longer our problem. We walked out of the airport, bag less, like we owned the place. On the positive side, I still had my wallet!
That just about wraps up our adventures up to now. We have been in Chicago for a couple of days and are still waiting for one more piece of luggage. Jutta is very excited because she gets to play with her first, new granddaughter, she is now a grandma. I have always been fond of older women! We hope to get the rest of our clothes, toiletries, and shoes before we leave for Toronto to visit more friends. You will hear about that trip in the next newsletter. Well, keep those dollars pouring in to the “Help Ferdy Cruising Fund”, clothes and shoes are not cheap in Chicago.

From the Decks of Pipe Dream

Jutta and Ferdy