8/2/14
Today is the GAM. It’s drizzling a bit, but off we go in our dinghy to a public dock on shore and then walk a ½ mile to Dick and Kathy de Grasse’s home. They have hosted this gathering of cruisers for the last 24 years. Everyone brings a dish to share and we meet and greet one another for a couple of hours, and share sea stories. One couple we met is now living on their powerboat, called Ancient mariner. They are 90 and 95 respectively, and are still cruising. Then, there is a speaker, a former captain of a 700 foot oil tanker, who describes a rescue his tanker made of a tug towing a barge on the ocean off of Florida during a hurricane. Chilling stuff. After the speaker we head back to the dinghy and then to River Rat. Later we have drinks with new friends Peter and Barbara aboard Lauri Clare, a 40’ Pacific Seacraft, along with John and Eunice Wilcox, who are circumnavigators. Think of that for a second. They sailed their sailboat around the world, while home schooling their 6 year old daughter. Their longest offshore passage was for 28 days, 24 hours per day. Salad for dinner tonight, then off to bed.