The main event of the week was a trip by auto to Hendersonville NC for the 100th birthday of Larry's Aunt Fern. This grand lady is truly amazing. She organized the party gently "encouraging" the more than 150 guests to be there and made several memory filled speeches during the proceedings. Although she is technically blind she walks extensively every day and is very free with advice on the conduct of almost everything about her. Fern's two sons Bill and Dick, who Larry had not seen for 60 years hosted the party in grand style and it was truly a memorable event in every respect. There are several pictures of the affair, including a stunning picture of Fern at age 25, at picasaweb.google.com/lropka at file "Fern"
In the Year 2000 Joan and Larry began a two year project to build a cruising trawler to complete their cruising dreams begun in the 1980"s. Six years later "Charis was completed and the cruising has begun. This blog is provided so that we may share our dreams and experiences with family and friends as we continue this long planned adventure. Last year we cruised from FWB to the Chesapeake Bay and this year we are enroute to in Canada. We are having the time of our lives enjoying God's creation.
Charis is 42' built in 1974 as a working lobster boat designed by Royal Lowell and built by Bruno-Stillman. After an unknown career we found her totally gutted in Panama City Fl in Nov 2000 and fell in love with her classic lines. What was planned to be a 2 year project to construct a modest pilothouse design got out of hand and six years later after 18000+ man hours she floats again as a quite tidy little coastal cruiser with ample creature features and a delightful interior crafted from 300 board feet of teak-hand sanded four times by Joan. Along the way she soaked up some 300 gallons of fiberglass resin, hundreds of yards of fiberglass cloth, several truckloads of plywood and 12000 stainless steel screws. She handles like a dream and is well found to begin fulfilling phase II of our cruising dreams.
No comments:
Post a Comment