At Last

Tiger Point Marina, N30 41.50 W081 27.25

(6/8/05) The engine is fixed again. All projects are finished and we’re ready to pay the bill and set sail tomorrow morning! The weather sounds great. We should have 10-15 knots wind for 1.5 days followed by 15-20 knots for another 1.5. Very smooth sailing. Hooray!

I also stopped in the boatyard office today to find out how much smelling salt I’d need when paying the bill. I had visions of $6,000 to $10,000 considering all the expensive workers doing stuff for me. It will only be about $2,300, more than fair. No smelling salts needed. Overall, the people here at Tiger Point Marina were great. They are friendly, knowledgeable and hard working. Best of all is the owner and boss, Bill Kavanaugh. Bill knows all aspects of the business and he hands out very high quality advice to the boat owners and to the boatyard workers. Here’s the cast of characters from Tiger Point.

• Bill is the owner. Bill was a river pilot for many years, and he says that owning a boatyard is his retirement activity. He also said it brings a lot more worries than as a pilot. When the pilot steps off the ship he guided, all responsibilities are discharged, leaving nothing to worry about.
• Kelly is the sexy office girl. She handles the bills and the Internet research for parts and technical info and ordering parts. It’s remarkable how much an operation like this depends on the Internet. It’s a very good match for small businesses.
• George and Nick are the general yard hands. They do most of the lifting and moving of boats, painting, sanding, and so on. George is a Vietnam vet. I think he lives in the boatyard. Last week, someone took George’s mast, laying on the ground and sold it at the local scrap yard for $10.
• Ernie is the new engine man. My engine was his first assignment at Tiger Point. Ernie recently retires from an aircraft engine maintenance business he owned at JAX. He said that after a couple of months, he realized that work during retirement would be necessary. Ernie has great stories. Unfortunately, his wife has cancer and that’s not pretty.
• Ingemar (and Bert and Staffan) are the metal work subcontractors. They run a little machine shop across the street. I’ve written about them before. Those guys have learned to live a relaxed life style. Good for them.
• Baird is one of the sailboat owners who docks his boat here. He does carpentry work for Bill on demand. Baird had a lot of repairs to do on his own boat after he ran it onto a jetty coming into the St Mary’s inlet last year. I’ll try to avoid doing that as I sail out.
• David and Tess Thomas were neighboring cruisers in the boatyard. They have a Bayliner 43 with lots of troubles. They only owned it a short time and neither has much boating experience. David hopes to charter her. It is reputed that the local West Marine store staff all know David by sight. That’s not good for one’s wallet.
• Limo is the boatyard dog. He’s a beagle who plays the part perfectly. During the day he moves from one shady spot to another to lay down. He howls when his master Bill is away..