Chapter 41

The week was busy, but full of anticipation. I was anxious to hear what John would find out about the boat, as he had not come out on Friday night. His in-depth survey, and cost estimate to make the boat right, would affect the decision of what to do with it.

Tiny wanted to go to the docks and boat yard daily, but I kept him away so John could complete the work he was hired to do.

Thursday evening, John showed up for supper. He had his briefcase with him and was ready to show us what needed to be done. Once he was comfortable in a lounge chair, with a drink in his hand before supper, he gestured to his captivated audience that he was surprised at the interest.

Sue and Mercy were on the couch leaning forward toward John, while Tiny, Phil, Ruth, and Judy were all equally anxious.

"First things first," John began. "I heard from the Coast Guard that they have completed the investigation of the sailboat. We can pick it up from them as soon as you wish. They said they did not do any major cutting, so they didn't destroy the boat. The bad news is that the owner can no longer sell the boat to you."

There were groans all around. You could see the disappointment on Mercy's face immediately.

"But," John said, "Since the owners have fled the country, and the boat was confiscated, the Coast Guard has offered you the boat for a very nice price to make up for the interruption of our trip, and to thank us for taking the Hatteras off their hands."

Mercy's smile widened till I thought her face would split.

"We can go down and bring it up whenever you wish. I asked Tiny not to mention it but he has already transferred funds so the boat is yours. You have a berth in Dunedin for it that will be next to where you will probably berth the fishing boat."

Mercy looked at me with the question in her eyes. I smiled and said, "How about we go down Saturday morning, that way we'll have all day Saturday and Sunday to get it here. We'll check the weather first before we make the decision."

I turned to John, "What's your opinion, do you think I need you to get the boat up here?"

John answered, "If they had done any major cutting or dismembering of the boat, I would have said yes, but you've shown me that you're capable of that trip. But do make sure of the weather before you go. If the winds are wrong, you could end up motoring most of the way unless you tacked way out into the gulf."

Mercy was smiling, "We'll check the weather before we go. We'll be fine."

"Now about the Hatteras," John began. "The forty-five foot fishing cruiser we picked up in the Keys is worth five to six times what you paid for it. The hull is sound, the engines are in great condition, and the boat is generally in great shape. The boat would have been considered pristine if the oxidized outer area had been polished and touched up in some areas. I had the hull cleaned and painted and also authorized the cleanup, polishing, and touch up painting on the boat. Knowing your desire for modern electronics, I have dual-display Garmin GPS, the new style close and long range color radar with dual displays, and a full complement of new radios, including a new satellite radio phone. In other words, the boat is ready for you whenever you wish."

Tiny and Phil looked at each other and Tiny asked John, "Can you take us out Saturday?"

John smiled, "I anticipated you would want to do that and have cleared my calendar. Both of you men, and possibly some more of you, need to go to the classes for your captain's license. I'll teach everyone who wishes how to operate the boat and how to care for it. This boat is not a toy. It can be a huge responsibility. If you are pressed for time, I would suggest you make arrangements to have concierge services at the yacht club. I think you'll find the prices are not bad. They will make sure the boat is looking nice by keeping it polished and will have it ready for you when you wish to go out. If this is to be used as a business tool, it will definitely be worth it."

I think the entire patio was listening to the conversation. Two groups formed. One to talk about the Saturday adventure on the cruiser, and another interested in the sailboat.

The dinner conversation was all the boat, or rather boats. By the time the dishes were in the big dishwasher, Phil, Tiny, Kevin, and Bear, with several of their ladies, were going out on the cruiser. They weren't planning on fishing this inaugural cruise but just get used to handling the boat.

Mercy had convinced Sue that we should pick the boat up tomorrow instead of waiting until Saturday. I was going to have a crew of Sue, Mercy, Hap, and Margie. Sue called our friendly pilot, the other John, the former owner of the 200 and new head of our charter company, to see if he would mind ferrying us down to Key West in the morning. As usual he was ready to fly anytime, anywhere.

John Morgan, the maritime captain and engineer, suggested that anyone free should go out to the boat tomorrow to see what they should get to make the boat complete, things such as bedclothes, lots of towels, extra sunscreen, liquid refreshments, and possibly non-perishable food. John said he had double-checked all of the safety equipment and there were life jackets for up to twenty passengers. He didn't recommend that many passengers at a time but they were available if necessary.

The excitement was intense. I doubt many slept well that night. Sue had enlisted Juanita's help in looking after the kids while she would be gone. Everyone figured Hanna and Juanita would be able to handle them and of course, Glenda was always around to help as well.

Mercy and Sue had a difficult time going to sleep. By the time they were finally relaxing, I was done. I couldn't have loved up Kim Novak if she had walked in.

"Wake up honey, you need to get ready. We want to leave early."

I opened my eyes to see two faces peering at me. I glanced at the clock to see it was only five thirty.

"Come on," Mercy begged. "Get showered, we're supposed to meet John at seven."

Sue gave me a kiss and softly said, "If you don't get up soon, Mercy's going to pee in her pants, she's so excited."

We showered as a trio, with no hint of playtime, because the two of them were so excited about a dumb old sailboat. We dressed and put some extra clothes and deck shoes in my duffel bag, along with some extra towels and toiletries. I checked the case with my broken down AR-15 and Glock, and put it with the duffel bag to take along.

The girls fed the kids and ate some breakfast before we had Tiny drive us to the Aero Park. John had the plane at the ops building, ready to leave. Sue wanted to fly right seat with John, so for the first time, I sat back in the passenger area for a flight.

Hap couldn't get over how luxurious the plane was. He said this was the way to travel and now realized why I had been enjoying flying all over. Two hours later, we were talking to the Coast Guard officer who had boarded the sailboat a little over a week before.

The Coast Guard officer in charge told us, "We found some new electronics in one of the storage lockers and since our electrician's mate didn't have anything to do, he installed them while we were putting everything back together. You have a new GPS, an excellent new depth finder, a very nice set of radios with presets for emergency and weather, and this new Raytheon radar. This is the new style without the rotating antenna. All of the electronics have displays and access at the main helm, as well as the weather cockpit or indoor bridge. I like this boat and am envious of you, enjoy it. Next time you're out sailing in the area, stop in, we'll give you a first class safety survey and we'll have lunch together."

Mercy and I went through the boat to double-check everything from before. I checked the generators and engines before we both were checking on fuel levels and water. Everything was topped off, ready for a voyage. Mercy opened the venting hatches for the engines and I turned on the fans. After the prescribed three minutes of venting, I started the two small diesels.

We had pulled the covers from all the sails, and tested the electric sail motors to make sure the sails would rise, before we finally began pulling lines. Sue was at the bow, while Mercy was on the rear deck. I slowly powered the large boat out of the slip, changed to the forward gear, and gently swung the boat around to head out toward the Gulf of Mexico. Once we were out about a mile, I began raising sail. The wind heeled us over a little as we had to tack in order to head in the intended direction. To be sure to catch the prevailing winds, we headed out northwest for about ten miles then headed fairly due north.

Hap was fascinated by the quietness of sailing. The water splashed against the bow, the sails snapped in the breeze, the rigging groaned from the strain, all new sounds to him, but relaxing just the same. Sue and Margie brought up some coffee, but soon disappeared with Mercy. Hap asked where they had gone and I pointed toward the forward deck. The three ladies were lying out in the sun, bare ass naked.

"I'm already liking this sailing stuff. Does that happen often?" Hap asked, pointing at the nude display.

I smiled before commenting, "Every chance they get, Hap. There's something about being out on the water that makes women want to get naked. Most women love to sunbathe and the ocean smell and the gentle rocking of the boat makes them free to do whatever they want without fear of others' opinions."

We sailed for most of the day before we turned toward land. As we neared some barrier islands, we pulled down the sail and started the engines. I checked the tide tables and since it was low tide I decided to anchor out from one of the islands and to make sure we left plenty of slack on the fore and aft anchor lines. We dug out some fishing gear to try to catch dinner, but gave up after only forty-five minutes without even getting a small hit.

Sue fixed a great dinner for us that we ate in the lounge, with all the windows open. The girls announced that they had cleaned up the two staterooms and washed the sheets so we were set for the night. Once the dishes were cleaned up, we all went to bed. Sue mentioned that sleeping with the porthole open was one of her fond memories from our trip out west. Our noises mingled with those from Hap and Marge while we all enjoyed our lovemaking.

I awoke early, as usual, and slipped out to make coffee. Thank goodness the girls had left the coffeepot out so I could get at it. Before making coffee though, I had to go topside to open the vent for the generator and start it so we would have electricity. By the time I went back down to the galley, Mercy and Sue were beginning to get breakfast started. Sue suggested that Mercy and I start the engines and get us started back out to the Gulf.

Mercy and I were able to get the anchors up and began motoring slowly out to the gulf. Hap and Marge began bringing food up to the lounge where we all had breakfast while I used the weather cockpit to guide the boat. This morning we had a nice southerly breeze, so when we put up all the sails, the boat lifted up to enjoy slicing through the water at near its top speed.

At one point when Hap and I were at the big wheel, Hap said, "With the wind in my face out here and as peaceful as it is, this is almost better than my Harley between my legs." That was a tall statement for a true biker such as Hap.

The morning was once again a time for the girls to sunbathe and wander around nude, while Hap and I enjoyed the view. During Saturday afternoon, we saw literally hundreds of fishing and sailboats of all sizes. We went a little farther out into the gulf to avoid the congestion around the mouth of Tampa Bay and even had to steer around an incoming fuel barge being pushed in.

We used the GPS to bring us into the yacht club in Dunedin. We used the radio to contact them and were directed to the north end of the slips where we slowly drifted into the berth after putting out fenders on both sides of the boat. Across the walkway, the cruiser had just come back from being out all day. Tiny, Henry, Kevin, Bear, and Phil looked a little burnt from the sun, but the ladies all looked like they had done well with the trip.

As soon as we were tied up, the folks from the cruiser swarmed the sailboat to get a look at it. John came aboard to inspect the equipment that the Coast Guard had installed. He found the old equipment that had been taken out and said he would put it in the second-hand consignment shop for other boaters to buy.

Mercy and I got all the covers on the sails and pulled the tarp over the lounge and tied it down. The boat was now stored properly. I helped John cover and store the Hatteras. The boat looked brand new after the work he had done on it. I was really impressed.

John asked me, "Do you want to rent either boat out for charters? I bet we could probably pay for a lot of the upkeep on the boats with some day charters, and an occasional weekend charter."

Mercy answered the question for me, "You can do that on a demand basis, but don't plan any charters in the near future for the sailboat. I may convince Steve to take this thing for a longer vacation soon. Most of the big spenders want to go out on a powerboat anyway, so make a bunch off the Hatteras. It is a beautiful boat, but no where as nice as what a big sailboat is."

"I have a couple of old guys that are good captains for both cruising and fishing," John said. "I'll get in touch with them. I'm sure they will jump at the chance to use a boat like this."

Luckily the guys had brought two big vehicles so we all could ride back to the park together without having to take a taxi or someone coming back for us.

My two ladies were happy to be with the kids. They loved them up before putting them to bed. Sue, Mercy, and I took showers to get the salt spray off us, then sat out on the patio with all the folks enjoying the mood. Tiny and Phil had plans to invite various customers down to stay in the hotel and go out fishing on the boat. They felt the boat would be great public relations.