Skipjack Nautical Hosts 2nd ARC Caribbean 1500 Happy Hour
by Andy Schell
Joe Elder of Skipjack Nautical was in his element last night at the beer keg. After a ‘thrilling’ happy hour on Saturday night in which Joe battled with the beer tap, spraying frosty German lager on the ceiling tiles, he’d worked out the kinks and was happily dry tending bar last night.
“All it was was an O-ring,” Joe said with a wry smile. “Alison broke out the dive kit this morning and easily fixed it,” he explained. At last, the cold beer was flowing instead of exploding, and the evening got off to a much smoother start than the night before (though it was all in good fun).
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Joe and his wife Alison own and run Skipjack Nautical Wares, the incredible little shop on the Portsmouth waterfront that deals in all things nautical, from 18th century swords and 17th century oil paintings, to ex-Navy clocks and barometers and ship-in-a-bottle works of art that are modern masterpieces. Joe is a huge history buff, a former art appraiser and he and Alison are avid divers, doing professional work as underwater archaeologists. They’ve been host to the two early arrivals Happy Hours at this year’s ARC Caribbean 1500 start. Sponsored again by Colligo Marine, with food and that tasty lager provided by the Bier Garden, last night was even more fun than the first.
Over a dozen boats had arrived into Ocean Marine Yacht Center by the 6:00pm start last night, with Lexington, a participant in the 2011 edition of the rally, arriving into the dock just in time.
“I’ll bring them down!” exclaimed Tim Szabo from perennial entrant Kinship, politely offering to show the way to the Lexington crew, while Mia, Lyall and I set off to set up the venue.
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Participants spent the evening getting to know one another while browsing the halls of what is certainly one of the most unique marine galleries anywhere (look for a feature today or tomorrow on Skipjack and the greater Portsmouth area for details). Life stories were shared and connections made, as the ‘six-degrees-of-separation’ barrier was broken down on many occasions. Several boats discovered that they’re bound for the same waters in the Pacific. Te Mana and Ryana are both planning a Panama Canal transit sometime after the new-year, bound for San Diego and San Francisco respectively, and new lives on the West Coast.
My dad, Dennis on Sojourner, is in a similarly tough situation as another participant, Jim from Lady Jane – ironically both sailing Wauquiez-built boats – who both lost their wives to cancer in the past few years. Here they are now, attempting to fulfill those dreams of ocean sailing which not so long ago may have felt emotionally impossible.
And that’s the thing about these events – as the days go by, people get more and more comfortable together after the ‘ice’ has broken. By the end of the passage and the program in Tortola, some of these folks will have made friends for life.
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But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. As I write, Rick Palm is espousing on fuel and water consumption in the second of the seminar series, which began this morning at the Portsmouth Renaissance Hotel. In a major upgrade from our digs in past years, we’ve gotten access to the hotel’s Amphitheatre for the seminar program. Hot coffee is available in the hallway, and the Amphitheatre itself is like a college-style lecture hall, complete with tiered seating and the latest AV equipment. It’s just a short walk down the waterfront from Ocean Marine along the beautiful walking path that the city has installed overlooking the Navy yard on the opposite side of the river. If nothing else, I fear we’re spoiling the sailors before sending them out into the wild blue!
The Rally Program continues tonight with a reception at the Commodore Theatre from 4:30pm before a free screening for participants of the new Tom Hanks movie Captain Phillips. The Commodore is a staple of Portsmouth culture; a dinner theatre built in the 1940s and restored to retain that style, it offers top-of-the-line audio and visual technology for a remarkable movie-going experience. But more on that tomorrow.