Florida.
I've wanted to title a post "Florida" for a long time, four years actually, and today I finally can.
The reason I started this blog, nearly four years ago, was to document my travels south, specifically to Florida. I was living in Boston at the time, winter was coming on and I needed a way to get out. The desk job didn't have any transfers down there and there was just no way I was spending any more time in New England. This is how I came into purchasing Winchelsea. It was a pretty basic idea: buy a boat and sail it down to Florida.
That started a four year odyssey involving three boats, two oceans, an engagement, a captains license, a galaxy of new and wonderful friends, and roughly 10,000 nautical miles under various keels. I can't emphasize the friends part enough, it is the thing that has really made this whole voyage worth while. Anyone who has met me in the past four years has known I've had this one and only goal, a one-track mind if you will, it was all I talked about and every single one of my actions and thoughts went into this one endeavor, almost to a fault. I would be here until next week thanking everyone who helped me get here personally, but you know who you are and you have no idea how grateful I am.
Pearce and I got into Charleston last week and were greeted by one of the best hostesses a city could ever ask for, a friend I met there a few months ago, Anita. She met us at her dock, her former place of employment, with mimosas and spent the rest of the day touring the city with us. On Tuesday a larger ketch pulled in and the captain was none other than my friend Drew, a guy I met on my first delivery on When and If! And, as it turned out, Hugh, another guy I met on that delivery was living in Charleston! I hadn't seen these guys in over three years and it was wonderful reminiscing and catching up with them.
On our last night in town (Drew and I had both decided to depart Charleston Thursday) Anita hosted all of us, as well as her three friends, for a spectacular dinner party.
Pearce and I were up at sunrise the next morning but couldn't get off the dock due to current issues. We waited for slack tide at noon and were off. It was a beautiful sunny day and the wind was about ten knots out of the northeast, which built throughout the afternoon. I'm usually pretty good about seasickness but I won't lie, on this day I wasn't. The seas were a very moderate three to five feet, but something hit me the wrong way and I spent the next 18 hours in agony. I think it may be the head cold I have, messing with my inner ear equilibrium and amplifying and feeling of uneasiness. I was pretty much over it by the next morning though, but the wind had died and then switched to the southwest so we motor sailed the remainder of the way into Fernandina Beach. It was surreal coming into St. Mary's inlet, with Florida to port and Georgia to starboard. I had done it. After four years the goal I had set for myself was finally coming to completion and at 10 pm last night, with my anchor resting on a sandy Florida bottom, it had.
The reason I started this blog, nearly four years ago, was to document my travels south, specifically to Florida. I was living in Boston at the time, winter was coming on and I needed a way to get out. The desk job didn't have any transfers down there and there was just no way I was spending any more time in New England. This is how I came into purchasing Winchelsea. It was a pretty basic idea: buy a boat and sail it down to Florida.
That started a four year odyssey involving three boats, two oceans, an engagement, a captains license, a galaxy of new and wonderful friends, and roughly 10,000 nautical miles under various keels. I can't emphasize the friends part enough, it is the thing that has really made this whole voyage worth while. Anyone who has met me in the past four years has known I've had this one and only goal, a one-track mind if you will, it was all I talked about and every single one of my actions and thoughts went into this one endeavor, almost to a fault. I would be here until next week thanking everyone who helped me get here personally, but you know who you are and you have no idea how grateful I am.
Pearce and I got into Charleston last week and were greeted by one of the best hostesses a city could ever ask for, a friend I met there a few months ago, Anita. She met us at her dock, her former place of employment, with mimosas and spent the rest of the day touring the city with us. On Tuesday a larger ketch pulled in and the captain was none other than my friend Drew, a guy I met on my first delivery on When and If! And, as it turned out, Hugh, another guy I met on that delivery was living in Charleston! I hadn't seen these guys in over three years and it was wonderful reminiscing and catching up with them.
On our last night in town (Drew and I had both decided to depart Charleston Thursday) Anita hosted all of us, as well as her three friends, for a spectacular dinner party.
Pearce and I were up at sunrise the next morning but couldn't get off the dock due to current issues. We waited for slack tide at noon and were off. It was a beautiful sunny day and the wind was about ten knots out of the northeast, which built throughout the afternoon. I'm usually pretty good about seasickness but I won't lie, on this day I wasn't. The seas were a very moderate three to five feet, but something hit me the wrong way and I spent the next 18 hours in agony. I think it may be the head cold I have, messing with my inner ear equilibrium and amplifying and feeling of uneasiness. I was pretty much over it by the next morning though, but the wind had died and then switched to the southwest so we motor sailed the remainder of the way into Fernandina Beach. It was surreal coming into St. Mary's inlet, with Florida to port and Georgia to starboard. I had done it. After four years the goal I had set for myself was finally coming to completion and at 10 pm last night, with my anchor resting on a sandy Florida bottom, it had.
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Scott Kuhner