Guest Entry: Jim Bassett

[Notice to anyone who reads this description of my week on the East Coast with grandson Zachary and cousins Kathy and Joe Schlechta: Apologies for the verbosity but I’m kind of writing this for myself as well as for other readers so you have to live with the boring stuff – assuming you find a little something in here that transcends boredom. Thanks for understanding.]

Sometimes one lucks out and gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something truly irreplaceable.

That’s what happened to me this past June when I was asked by grandson, Zachary, to accompany him on all or part of his epic journey by sailboat from Florida to New England. Fortunately, the week of Tuesday, June 19, through Tuesday, June 26, worked for me so that became the appointed time.

I found some really cheap airplane tickets on Airtran, flying to Savannah GA on June 19 and returning from Charleston SC on June 26. In the meantime, I realized that for several years, I’ve had an open invitation from a long lost first cousin, Kathy Alexander Schlechta, who lives in Charleston with husband Joe, to come and stay with them and to see all the sights that Charleston has to offer.

I should point out that the last time Kathy and I saw each other was probably at our grandmother’s funeral in 1959 or thereabouts. So, this whole journey was beginning to turn into a wonderful adventure.

I flew out of MSP early Tuesday morning after Mary and I went to the wrong airport terminal, not realizing that Airtran uses an auxiliary terminal in Minneapolis. Fortunately, we had allotted enough time so that I made it with many minutes to spare.

After an uneventful flight, I arrived in Savannah, not quite knowing how I was going to traverse from the airport to Thunderbolt Marina where Zach and the boat were staying. However, I grabbed a Shamrock Cab Company cab, along with some other folks, and I discovered that I had one of the most helpful cabbies ever. He not only gave us a nice “tour” going into town but, after he had left all the other passengers off, he drove me to where he thought I could catch the #24 bus to Thunderbolt.

Unfortunately, the cabbie had the wrong street so, after kind of stopping lots of traffic as I frantically caught a bus going back to the right street and then caught the #24 (for the horrendous fare of $1.00), I made it out to Thunderbolt where Zach was waiting at the bus stop for me. Problem number one solved.

I needed a haircut so found a barber shop near the boat – an all-black barber shop, I think. I asked the guy who was about to cut my hair for a haircut just like he had (dreadlocks) but to no avail. He said he couldn’t help me so he cut it short just like always. Kind of fun listening to the guys and gals in the shop discussing current events in the neighborhood while I was being sheared.

We had supper at Tubby’s, the only decent eating place within walking distance of the marina. Nice place with some good nautical atmosphere.

We decided to take Wednesday for some Savannah touring so went back downtown Wednesday morning where we hooked up with an Oglethorpe tour. Our tour guide turned out to be a rather nice lady who grew up in Wisconsin and had a cabin in northern Minnesota. The tour was good and we were able to at least get a nice overview of the city. One of the places I really wanted to see was the Mercer house, featured in the book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, a story set in Savannah. We saw it!

We also saw enough rain to just about flood downtown Savannah. At one point the water was running over the curbs. We wound up running from building to building and getting pretty much soaked. However, we did manage to get to a lunch place, an old railroad dining car at a depot turned into a museum and visitors’ center, where we waited out one downpour before wending our way to a maritime museum where we had too little time to see much but we at least did see something.

Then, back on the #24 to Thunderbolt. After returning to the boat, we walked to some gas station/convenience stores and tried to stock up on food and drink but the pickings were sparse. We got enough though to fend off starvation. Then back to Tubby’s for supper.

We departed Thursday morning after having some nice conversation with a guy and his wife who were sailing a beautiful 40’ Leopard catamaran. Pretty interesting boat and fun to talk to the owners.

Sailing was not really sailing Thursday. We motored (with the 9.9 hp Yamaha outboard motor) nearly all the way although we did have the jib out for a couple of hours. The jib is oversized and it provides a lot of power, assuming the wind is right. We went out into the ocean for most of the morning but it was quite rough and we were continually having waves wash over us so we decided that getting back to the Intracoastal Waterway would be better. We came back into the lee of Hilton Head Island about noon and spent the afternoon in much better conditions although we were already soaked so it didn’t make a whole lot of difference.

We anchored north of Beaufort SC and settled down to some gourmet spaghetti prepared by Chef Zachary. Considering the source of the spaghetti, a gas station, it was quite good although I’m hoping Zach doesn’t quit his day job.

One of the highlights of the day was watching the dolphins which accompanied us a lot of the time. It’s pretty fun seeing them in the wild.

Friday we continued on the Waterway, motoring most of the morning but sailing in the afternoon. The Waterway ranges from being really wide, sort of like Lake Pepin in Minnesota, to really narrow, like going up a river. However, with the right wind, it’s pretty easy to sail even if it’s a narrow passage.

One downer during all this time – and during the whole journey – was the fact that Zach’s autopilot was broken. I think it broke the day before I arrived and he got it fixed the day after I left. Dang! Rotten timing! It would have been nice to have it running but we survived using our arm power to control the tiller.

Another downer about this time was that we didn’t have the forward hatch dogged down tight so a lot of water came in and soaked Zach’s computer. It quit working and he wound up having to buy a new one in Charleston. We tried to get the old one fixed but when the fixing guy heard it had seen salt water he told us to forget about it. Apparently salt water is death on electronics.

We anchored in a neat little inlet Friday night in what the chart said was 11’ of water. After a pleasant supper and a good night’s sleep, we awoke in the morning to discover that we were high and dry. The chart had lied to us. We could tell that we were about at the low point for tide so we knew we’d eventually get out but we had to wait until noon to get going after the tide had come in.

In the meantime, we were making arrangements for the big meeting with Kathy and Joe, meaning a number of phone calls to report our progress.

We also got a phone call from son (uncle) Luke, telling us that he and wife Amy have a friend in Charleston, Jason Crandall, who owns a slip at a marina in Charleston, which was empty at the time and which we could use. We had made a reservation at another marina kind of out of town which was going to cost us $60 per night so this was really welcome news. We called Jason and made arrangements at his marina.

After we got afloat again Saturday, we went the final thirteen miles or so to Charleston, found the marina and finally found the slip we were supposed to be in. We showered, called Joe and Kathy and were picked up by them. This was certainly a thrill for me, seeing a rather close relative for the first time in nearly half a century. We went to a nice restaurant, Locklear’s, for supper and then went out to their house.

Zach and I had intended to stay on the boat. The outside temperature was about 95 degrees with humidity to match. The inside temperature in Joe and Kathy’s house was about 70 degrees with low humidity. They pretty much insisted that we stay with them so, after a few feeble protests, we decided that we’d better do that. I had told Kathy previously to be careful about what she asked for because she might get it. So, she wound up with a couple of groady sailors staying at her house.

As one might expect, we were treated like visiting royalty by the Schlechtas. Wow! We spent Sunday visiting Fort Sumter, the Civil War submarine Hundley (the first submarine in history to sink a warship), and the site of the Sofa Company fire which had taken place the Monday before. The fire took place only minutes from Schlechta’s house. The site was a very somber place, as you might imagine. There were lots of flowers, mementos from fire departments from all over North America and a lot of tears. Not a fun place to visit, of course, but a place that had to be seen. If people didn’t appreciate fire and police people before seeing that, they would have to afterward.

We ate supper that evening in one of the nicest restaurants I’ve ever been in, California Dreaming. It’s on the waterfront and has gigantic windows overlooking the harbor. When you walk in you are almost overwhelmed by the view. They could have served corned beef and hash and I still would have been awed.

We decided for Monday’s activity to go to a plantation so we chose one that seemed to be sort of representative of the area, Middleton Place. It dates back about 250 years and was the site of a very large rice growing operation. We kind of did the whole shebang with a horse drawn tour of the grounds, a tour of the buildings and an African American tour, all of which pretty much filled up the day. One of the nice things about this visit was that Joe Schlechta who went with us had never been there before so it was a new thing for him as well as for Zach and me.

I liked California Dreaming so much that I asked Schlechtas if they would mind going back for a second evening in a row, which they graciously agreed to do. We called Jason Crandall who went along with us and who told us lots of good flying and sailing stories. He’s an Air Force pilot whose girl friend just went through pilot training in Oklahoma with Amy, our daughter-in-law. Since Joe Schlechta is a retired Navy guy, they had lots of military stories to swap and, of course, Zach and I ate all this up with relish.

Departure day was Tuesday morning or, more precisely, Tuesday in the middle of the night, or so it seemed. Joe got up at what I thought was an ungodly hour and took me to the airport for another uneventful flight home.

All in all, this was one of the great adventures of my life. Plus it was a bit of a double-edged sword with the sailing and the meeting with Kathy and Joe, all in one trip. Zach and I had a great time on the boat and I even learned a thing or two about sailing from him. (But I try hard not to admit that my grandson knows more about sailing than I do.) And certainly when one sees a close relative for the first time in nearly fifty years it is a thrill that very seldom happens. I wouldn’t trade the week for anything.