No boat travel today.
The St. Augustine Seven Seas Cruising Association GAM took place at the Shriner's Club located several miles south of St. Augustine itself. The venue had two large meeting rooms, a bar, and a kitchen area where food was prepared for the participants. Out back, sponsors had tables where they could show and demonstrate their wares. Clark bought an SSCA burgee at the Ship's Store located there as well.
I, of course, looked no further than the sponsors' tables. Clark, however, ventured further to take in the scenery.
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| Deck at the Shriner's Club |
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| View from the Shriner's Club |
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| View from the Shriner's Club |
The planners of the event packed the agenda with numerous seminars promising to engage the many attendees. With so many options to choose from, Clark and I tried to select sessions such that, for the most part, we did not attend together. Some of the topics held no interest for me whatsoever, so I told Clark which sessions I intended to attend and let him decide from there what he would do.
I took something away from each of the seminars I attended - some provided more meat than others while some managed to get a bit over my head technically. I particularly enjoyed this morning's session on "Great Gadgets & Ideas While Cruising". I am fairly certain we will not be putting a light-up commode in the head, but it is certainly an interesting idea! A list of the various gadgets discussed and recommended can be found at the book of sail website. One thing from the list that I would like to make is a looky bucket to check out the fish from within the dinghy.
For a lark, and because I did not want to learn "How to Buy SatCom for Your Boat", I attended the "Diesel Systems Operation and Maintenance" session. Thanks to working with Clark on our boats over the years, I understood and had experienced a majority of the topics discussed. I knew all about impeller failure consequences long before this meeting. I did learn a tip for clearing out old blade parts if they break off by flushing backwards with water!
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| Break time - folks mingling at the SSCA GAM |
This afternoon, I learned about anchors in the "Avoid the Art of Dragging" session. (As if I hadn't learned more than I wanted to know in Cape May when we helped "Home Too" resize their equipment!) I could relate to the discussion on how fast a boat moves across an anchorage when the anchor drags based on the rate at which "Home Too" moved across the Brigantine Anchorage near Atlantic City when their anchor failed to do its job!
We had a preview of the agenda before coming to the GAM, so Clark knew to bring his guitar for the Friday night Jam session. After the sessions ended, and before everyone departed in search of dinner, a few folks got together and pulled out their instruments.
The only woman musician had a big repertoire of instruments that she could play including guitar, ukulele, recorder, harmonica, spoons and more. Watching her beat out a fast rhythm using just two spoons from the kitchen proved very entertaining. Someone had a banjo! They played a variety of songs but seemed to like quick-paced and Irish tunes the most.
When the day's activities finally ended, we headed back towards our room and ate at Tony's Pizza located directly across the street from the hotel. The restaurant advertised New York style pizza. We were not disappointed!
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