Cedar Key Small Boat Meet 2K23! Part 1 of 2 . . . . .

[Charles Brennan]

When I first began "messing about in boats" as a much younger man, my friends always referred to my boat(s) as the: "Noon Balloon".
Because no matter when we planned an outing in a boat, it never seemed to get going before noon.
In a lifetime effort to improve that score, I tried preparing the boat the day before, so the next morning, I could just add food, ice and electronics and leave.
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Got up at 4:30 am and out the door, at the crack of 7:30 am!!
(Still dunno how this happens!)

And rigging the boat for launch, by 8:30 am!
This is the stuff you have to do when single-handing at one of the worse ramps I have to deal with, in north central Florida.
Normally, I tie my bow line to the cleat on the mast stand of my trailer, so that when I back in and perform a gentle "snap launch" the boat does not completely get away from me.
At Cedar Key, I also have the challenge of having to motor out to the other side of the launch ramp in order to tie off to where the Army Corps of Engineers laughingly decided to place a dock.
I have to loop the bow line through the mast stand cleat and tie on to the boat's bow cleat so that once launched, I can unfasten it from the deck, to motor out.
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Basically worked good, except for one problem . . . . .
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Getting ready to board the boat from the trailer, I was watching the boat instead of where I was walking and hit a really THICK patch of algae and fell flat on my back and slid about a foot and a half down the ramp on my back, until my heels finally dug in.
That lighter spot in the algae next to the truck's back up lights is where I acquired a souvenir of my visit to Cedar Key, on the back of my tee-shirt and shorts.
The Good News was that no one witnessed my ignominious fall between the truck and the sea wall!
It was a "minor injury" (defined as: only 1 or 2 trips to a chiropractor)  that in no way dampened my spirits for the day.
I motored the boat around to the dock, tossed out my fenders and tied off to the dock and went off in search of parking.
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Nay, what dampened my spirits, was driving round and round and round the island, looking vainly for a parking space for my truck and trailer.
People came up with ingenious parking methods, like this guy using the single vehicle parking space area to "invent" a dual parking space.
Figured: "Hey! If he can do it, I probably can too!"
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Uhhh . . . . . no.
Geometry did not work out, as there was a steep drop-off where the front of the truck cab would have been.
Ah, well.
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In my 2nd (or maybe 3rd) circuit of the island I tripped over a parking lot that was only 4 blocks down and three blocks over from the marina! 
What a hike!  Then it occurred to me, I do about the same number of steps at a boat show, and I never complain about THAT.
Ah, well, never claimed to be logical.
Decided to make good on my threat from previous years, to Uber back to the marina.
Nope, not available on this island.
Found out later that during Covid 19, between pandemic isolation and more motels acquiring courtesy golf carts for their guests, the sole taxi in town was driven out of business. 

Finally arriving back at the marina, I saw this boat, which I later learned, was a Core Sound 17 and had a beautiful painted finish that looked like it was gel-coat.
BTW, look at that mast leaning at an angle, in front of the striped Sunfish sail at the right of the pic, for some foreshadowing of things to come.
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Told the guy, if I had a boat with a finish that bright, every little ding and scrape would simply devastate me.
He told me: "You learn to get over it, pretty quick."
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Got back to my tied up boat where all was in chaos, with the mast rocking violently back and forth and the hull banging against the dock.
During my absence, wandering the island, the waves had kicked up to the point that one of my fenders had the knotted end of the line pulled all the way through the center of the fender (the big one, naturally) and the line was hanging down the side, the fender was floating in the water and the side of my nicely and recently painted hull was getting beaten to death, on the rough floating dock. 
Even the other fender that didn't slip off its line, wasn't much more help.
In all the rubbing up against the hull, it managed to smear paint off the recently painted sheer stripe and deposit it lower down on the hull.
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Core Sound Guy was wrong:  You DON'T necessarily get over it "pretty quick".   
Hurriedly retrieved some more fenders from down below, deployed them and recovered my original  fender from the water and prepared to leave that destructive dock.
Oh, well, for showing up Shipshape and Bristol fashion, even for just ONCE, in my life!!   

No pics of the trip to Atsena Otie Key, as I had my hands full dealing with cranking the centerboard up and down in the low tide shoals and having my rudder pop off the gudgeons once and have to be reset  in heavy wave action.
Went aground on a shoal about 100 yards from where I originally intended to put the boat on shore.  Hopped over the side and gave the hull a push.
The hull pushed back.
I started to wonder what kind of a weekend I was going to have.
The hull was acting very strangely, and not at all as buoyant, as was my experience of over 4 decades.
It occurred to me the centerboard might not have been cranked all the way up, but the centerboard winch had felt tight when I stopped.
I clambered back aboard and tried again.
After some stiff resistance, it started cranking up the winch cable again and the hull immediately felt more buoyant.
Back over the side and pushed it easily back into deeper water and climbed back aboard, to motor to a better spot on shore.

Deployed my sand stake anchor on shore and walked my Danforth out behind the boat to hold the stern in place of the reasonably stiff current that was flowing past the island.
Mooring chores done, I went out in search of boats to gander at.
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This boat was designed byJim Michalak and I recognized the design, from seeing one at last year's FL 120 and I mentioned the name to the builder of this one. 
Who was very quick to correct my pronunciation.  (Meh-KAL-lack, not MITCH-a-lak)
Neat feature is no cabin top, which means you can do all mast and sail handling from inside the cabin well.
Cabin well forward:
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Cockpit aft:
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I keep wondering if putting lazy jacks on Urchin would be more of a time-saver, or an aggravation.
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Clever lee-board arrangement that can be pulled up or down, without leaving the cockpit.
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Guess "Small Boat Meet" has no minimum size limits.  Or apparently, sail requirements.
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Long time readers of my reports like the occasional "cheesecake" associated with boating events.
This is the best I could do, guys.
These two are maybe more suited for gracing the cover of AARP magazine, than Maxim.
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Guess small power boats also count as a "small boat".
Hand built by the owner in Georgia back in the 90's, recently re-powered.
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Nice woodworking.
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Classifications of boat type tend to blur at the CK Small Boat Meet. 
Decked canoe?
Wooden kayak?
Demi-Wherry?
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Pretty expensive carbon fiber paddle on board.
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(Treasure of Sierra Madre Bogey reference: ) "Anchors?!? We don' need no stinkin' ANCHORS!!"
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Another arrival.  They were all coming in pretty regularly from about 10:00 am, on.
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Wayfarer Dinghy ghosting in.
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Interesting steering mechanism on this cat ketch.
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I went back to check on Urchin and discovered the incoming tide had washed away the sand holding my sand stake and it was starting to drift downstream in the current, held only by the stern anchor.
I rushed out to try and grab the shore line and by the time the (cold!) water was as high as my chest, the current was so strong I knew if I tried swimming, I'd be swept downstream of my line.
I quickly back-tracked until I had traction on the bottom again and pushed against the current, to get upstream of the dragging beach line.
That worked and I grabbed the line and began tugging the 100 foot line back to the beach.
Against the current and the wind.
I began to get winded from my exertions and my arms were beginning to cramp up and I also knew that with the tide coming in like that, I was going to need to get the boat closer to shore.
I waded over to the hull, bracing against the current and working my way to the stern, to slack line off the stern anchor, then dragging/pushing/wrestling the hull as close as I could, back to shore.
Then, while keeping tension on the beach rode with my knee, I pounded in my sand stake well up the beach, and well inland from any other tidal incursions.

That loathsome chore accomplished, I went back to admiring arrivals.
This is a 1889 N. G. Herreshoff design called a Coquina.
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Cat Ketch.
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When I walked up to the owner and said: "Coquina." He replied: "You sure know your boats."
And then I had to admit that I had seen it last year and remembered what it was.
He laughed and said: "Well, it was a Coquina last year and it's still a Coquina, this year!"
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Anyway, I was heartened, that I'm remembering more and more of these boats and designs and designers.
The guys that show up at the CK Small Boat Meet know ALL the designers and designs at a glance, sort of reminding me of nautical NASCAR fans.

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Hey! I knew this one too!  West Wight Potter 15.
In fact, I'd seen him out here April 16th when I was out here testing my centerboard keel bolt for water tightness.


Charles Brennan

[Timm R Oday25]

Thanks for sharing your trip. I definitely appreciate it . I could easily see myself ordering plans for a number of them.
Whether or not I'd ever make the time to finish is a whole nother story.