Jo Beth hauled at Hinckley Yacht Services, Savannah, GA.Jo Beth often spends her summers ashore. It's generally too hot to sail comfortably, the winds are light and fluky, and afternoon storms a pain. This is a time for below waterline maintenance. We're skipping this season, instead doing as much as we can with her afloat. If nothing else, this is going to stretch the antifouling abilities of her bottom paint to the max! So far, things aren't bad; in Savannah waters, we'd have to have had a diver down on the boat two or three times by now. Most of what we've seen growing in the marina basin at Brunswick is a soft type of growth, much of which will slough off as the boat moves through the water.
Cooler weather is approaching. It’ll be a juggling act for us, make no mistake; prioritizing and getting those essential projects done on board prior to the arrival of that little sliver of winter that we experience in the southeastern states, and getting the boat underway so we can remember why we invest so much of ourselves in her.
Both Lisa and I are eager to spend time aboard Jo Beth again, to feel her slice through the waves and lift to the swell, and letting evening breezes blow through the open hatches while she lies quietly to her anchor, cozy among the marshes. For us, there’s no place like a small boat to find comfort for our souls. I, for one, have been away too long.
That’s saying something, especially for me, someone that often feels they spend way too much time messing with (other people’s) boats. Better days are on the horizon.
In the interim, I promised Lisa I would write more about our journey with Jo Beth; tell the tale of how we’ve arrived at where we are, and talk about the lessons we’ve learned from the innumerable interesting characters we’ve met along the way, as well as those we’ve learned from Jo Beth herself. Before long, we’ll slip the lines and do some sailing. So keep reading. Sailing is an endeavor of patience. I promise it will be entertaining. There’ll even be pictures – maybe a video too!
On a somber note, today is the 17th anniversary of the landfall of hurricane Andrew in Miami, Florida. For the first and hopefully only time in our lives, my wife and I became homeless overnight along with hundreds of thousands of others. It's an experience we will never forget.
