Stuart Florida: Gilbert’s Bar Coffee Shop

Where am I today? At Gilbert’s Bar Coffee Shop on a gorgeous Sunday morning, doing the New York Times crossword puzzle, sipping a creamy, smooth cappuccino and gazing at the boats in the Marina. It don’t get no better than that, as somebody famous once said. And looking at sailboats always brings back good memories.

Like the time I came to Florida on a 26-foot Macwester. We lived on the boat in the marina while we were having maintenance work done and deciding our next move. Every morning we woke to blue skies, dazzling sun and cool breezes. Our daily exercise was walking up to the dock master’s office, getting the local paper, and walking back to read it in the stern - while drinking really strong coffee with cream. Pure heaven.

Except one day I got a little more exercise than I expected when I became a human whisker pole. Whisker poles are used to ‘wing out’ the jib when you’re sailing downwind. You go faster and it keeps the sail from flopping in the wind. But that day, as we were flying downwind off Hutchinson Island, we realized our whisker pole was missing. Which meant jury rigging.

And no, jury rigging isn’t the same as jury tampering. It means finding temporary makeshift solutions with only the tools and material you have on board. So there I was, the jury rigging solution, stretched out to grasp the jib, holding on tight and flying with the wind - an amazing high and an amazing memory.

Until next time . . .