My grandfather lost his mother when he was 17, and his father when he was 25. He inherited enough from them to play the rest of his life. He grew up in Joplin, Missouri, and a small sailboat was stored at the family mining machinery business. We have an amusing letter he wrote to the widow of the owner of the boat, he told her what a mean thing leaving that boat was since it inspired a lifetime of boating adventures.

Starting in the 1930s, he kept a sailing yacht in Annapolis, Maryland, and commuted from Joplin by train. After my mom and uncle were grown, he moved from Joplin to Biloxi, Mississippi, and lived in gulf coast towns the rest of his life in the winter, summers spent on an island in Lake of the Woods, Ontario.

Around 1955, he took his beautiful Norwegian made International Dragon class 30' racing sailboat to a regatta on Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans. My mom and dad went to Biloxi to crew, they sailed the boat from Biloxi to New Orleans, with my grandmother providing support by car on the way. They ended up winning the regatta.

My dad was in the bathroom of the Southern Yacht Club following the victory, and he hears chatter in the bathroom. "Who won the regatta?" "The bastard from Biloxi" Seeing my dad, they asked who he sailed with. He replied: "The bastard from Biloxi"

Our family has continuously had power boats and sailboats since the 1930s, been racing sailboats nearly continuously since at least the middle 1950s. My dad, mom, and both brothers and I have all crewed and skippered racing sailboats except for short intervals, for the last 65 years. My oldest brother currently crews on an inland C Scow and I skipper one. Look what leaving a small sailboat stored in a business can result in.

Was considering inquiring at the Southern Yacht Club to see if they might have a trophy with my grandfather's name on it, or records of the victory. Read their history on the website, and their clubhouse burned during hurricane Katrina in 2005, losing historic trophies and artifacts. Its the second oldest yacht club in the US, behind New York. Founded around 1840.

That is a cool story. Thanks for sharing.

I enjoyed that, thanks!

Great story, thank you. That International Dragon is a beautiful.

Was thinking about why he kept his yacht at Annapolis, Maryland, 1100 miles away, when New Orleans was only 700 miles from Joplin, MO. It probably was due to air conditioning not in use much yet. Summers in Annapolis were much nicer than in New Orleans. Funny to think about the difference in travelling by train. Get on board in Joplin in the morning, an overnight sleep, and arrive in Annapolis that afternoon.

He really worked his way down the Gulf coast first living in Biloxi, Mississippi. Then Gulf Shores, Alabama, then New Port Richey, Florida, several years in a house in the French Quarter in New Orleans, finally settling in Naples, Florida. He was probably at first wanting to keep the distance shorter to visit home town of Joplin, but got more and more disassociated with it the longer he was gone. Or he just kept moving where it was warmer in the winter.

At one point after my grandmother passed, he married a twenty something and built a new house in Port Royal in Naples, Florida. His house was on a canal and had a tile roofed boathouse for his 36' Chris Craft cruiser. I ended up with an aunt and uncle that are younger than me from that union. It didn't last and he got scalded in the messy and costly divorce.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: pbslinger,

quote:

Originally posted by pbslinger:
Was thinking about why he kept his yacht at Annapolis, Maryland, 1100 miles away, when New Orleans was only 700 miles from Joplin, MO. It probably was due to air conditioning not in use much yet. Summers in Annapolis were much nicer than in New Orleans. Funny to think about the difference in travelling by train. Get on board in Joplin in the morning, an overnight sleep, and arrive in Annapolis that afternoon.

He really worked his way down the Gulf coast first living in Biloxi, Mississippi. Then Gulf Shores, Alabama, then New Port Richey, Florida, several years in a house in the French Quarter in New Orleans, finally settling in Naples, Florida. He was probably at first wanting to keep the distance shorter to visit home town of Joplin, but got more and more disassociated with it the longer he was gone. Or he just kept moving where it was warmer in the winter.

At one point after my grandmother passed, he married a twenty something and built a new house in Port Royal in Naples, Florida. His house was on a canal and had a tile roofed boathouse for his 36' Chris Craft cruiser. I ended up with an aunt and uncle that are younger than me from that union. It didn't last and he got scalded in the messy and costly divorce.

Great story. Have raced at SYC on several occasions. Nice club, great people. Was a shame that beautiful clubhouse burned in Katrina, but they have rebuilt. They were able to retrieve a lot of the historical stuff before the fire occurred while they were preparing for the HC.

Side note, my late Mom's, since deceased boss, had a home in Port Royal. He used to take his boat a 50-60+ power boat from Chicago down the MS to the Gulf and winter at his place in Naples. Nice dig's.

Yachts yo-yo from northern waters to mostly Florida every spring and fall. I doubt many take the Mississippi river any more, I think services are sporadic there compared to the Tennessee-Tombigbee.

I went with my brother on his trawler "Salty Dog" one spring on the Tenn-Tom from Mobile to a marina near Paducah. We saw some yachts in transit and a really impressive 70-80 footer.

BTW - A champion Snipe sailor used to race at our little lake in Missouri who was from Wichita, Ted Wells. My dad raced Snipes for years and raced against him. He also wrote a book on the science of sailing, and was an aircraft designer for Beechcraft. I think he designed the staggerwing. Read a story that when Beech's widow was running the company, she tired of Ted Wells spending so much time sailing. She sent a plane to pick him up at a regatta. He flew back to meet her, quit his job and flew back to the regatta.

My C Scow crews brother was a hot young Snipe sailor being taught and crewed by his father. At a regatta on our lake, he took a flier in light air and passed several boats including Ted Wells. Wells was so exasperated by the young hot shot beating him, he loaded his boat and left.