SE Fleet takes Hartwell once again in '07

Well here it is, Sailstice '07 already.  I was one of the last to show up to Hart State park Friday afternoon. I got my site all set up and made it down to the waterfront just in time for some of Ed's great burgers.  So, in my opinion, just in time.  We all got reaquainted with one another and forged some new friendships as well.

Here is base camp...

Here is our Fearsome South East Fleet commodore in all his splendor Ed Jones...

Looks pretty Dangerous to me, Rules with an Iron fist He does.

 Well, as the evening progressed and the festivities ended, a few brave souls, as well as myself. wandered down to the dock to sample some Grog and strange brews aboard the Whipoorwill, hosted by Capt' Keith. I beleve it was Ed,  Dustin, Michael, and myself on board. It was great meeting Dustin and Michael and welcoming them properly to "the Madness", this boatbuilding thing.

 I have no photos of Friday night as I left the camera in my tent.  Soooo, after many strange brews and stories were told, Keith on harmonica, and myself on guitar seranaded the campground.  

I am sure the Campers around the lake will never forget the show!

After getting up Saturday morning, having a breakfast of two crusty old out of date, but much needed aspirins, I wandered down to the waterfront where I saw Ed teaching a whole bunch of kids how to build sailboats...

There wound up bieng such a large turnout  the park ranger sent us Reba (Ed's relief) for our hugely popular model Sailboat building class.

She did a great job helping those kid's with the Boats and carving their masts.

I brought some of my wooden ship models that I built to display for folks to check out, wish I had a real one...

   Come across meny a shifty character I did...

     

   Now I would be leary of this one, my fellow enthusiest and good friend  Brian watford...

 

 and here is the Fearsome capt. Keith with his trickster water cannnon.Notice the women and children cringing in fear in the rear of the photo.

Sinkin' ships

Opps how'd that git in there?

 Fun was had by all who attended...

some folks went down to the docks to check out our Boats...

I even helped Brian Watford and his scurvy crew shove off for thier cruse...

I was admiring Brians  laminated rudder and was thinking I may use a similar idea on my boat.

 

And off they went...

We had a really good day of it, meeting lot's of folks and their family's. Teaching kid's how to make model sailboats and leting them keep the boats they made, even naming and sailing them.

The day was getting pretty hot so a few of us jumped in the lake to cool off I jumped in as well but thankfully(for your sake) I was the one taking the photos

Keiths son Jared his wife Becky and their son Kole came and joined the fun, Jared may build a Vacationer himself  because Kole really likes grandpa's boat, trust me he showed me grandpas boat a bunch of times. He would walk up and grab my finger then pull me down to the boat .Very cool kid.

  After a little R&R the Fearsome Captan Keith   put out a call to arms for the crew to  assemble on the boat.

Also onboard was Black Bark alias Schooner the fearsome Seadog...

and off we went looking for another boat to terrorise and plunder. The iron fisted Captain Keith  spied a likely vessle ahead.

 

We raised the colors...

and he gave the order to prepare to Broadside the goodship Fairwind...

It was a feirce cannon battle but the Fearsom Capt. Keith and the scurvy crew of the Whipoorwill

dissabled Fairwind...

 

fire relentlessly he did...

  Arrrrrrgh! he exclaimed, as he Took the  plunder and left Commodore Jones and defeated crew adrift...

It was really cool, there were alot of folks out on the beach cheking out the mock pirate battle.

 When we finished up with the battle we got a little wind and got out sailing on the lake for the rest of the afternoon. We saw some Sails out there, I didn't get meny photos but I did get one of this really cool trimaran.

Here are a couple of random shots as we Sailed around the lake...

Well after a long day of Sailing,listening to  Buffet and sippin' Suds we went back to the dock to begin the evening festivities, we had a smorgasbord of awsome food all fit for a sailor, Keith broke out his famous beer that he brews himself, and I have to tell Y'all it is some of the finest beer You ever want to drink.I don't really have alot of pictures of the cookout as I was buisy cooking, eating and drinking to really take photos. we were all assembled at the waterfront shelter having a great time, and as the evening passed Ed decided to pull out and head home so We all helped Ed get Fairwind out of the lake and said fairwell...

No sooner did We say goodby to Ed when Jared and Becky decided to git on down the road as well, but Kole had othe plans. He grabed my finger and took me down to see Grandpa's boat one last time ...

Everybody was just plain pooped after a geat day of sailing and fun so all retired to their campsites,

 Except Keith and I. We hung out at the dock and watched all the boats come in. Drank a few and he helped me with some of my ideas for my vacationer (that I need to get done). The night turned to  early morning and I went back to my site and crashed.I woke up fairly late, Cooked breakfast and brought it over to Dustin and Michaels site to see if they wanted to eat but Dustin had already been up, as well as everyone else, and was down the waterfront cheking out the whipoorwill . Michael had been the only other one  late to rise, so he joined me in some burnt eggs, sausege and roastbeef hash. Brian Watford came up with his boat and we talked for a while before he had to get going down the road, then I went back and packed up my site and headed down to the waterfront. keith had been out on the lake and was pullling Whipoorwill  out of the lake with Dustin and Michael helping...

What a motley lookin' crew

well we all said our goodbys and headed in our separate directions home with good memories and anticipation for next year.

 Thank All y'all for a great time, till next year...

 Brian