S/V Lodestar - Life Afloat with Pat and Joan

Originally Posted November 2014

One of the best TV shows ever was M*A*S*H. But before there was the TV show there was the movie and before that was the book. Hawkeye Pearce grew up in Crabapple Cove Maine and he and his Dad had a term to describe good people and other events; "Finest Kind."

Our experience thus far in cruising and getting ready to cruise is that there are a lot of "Finest Kind" people out there. This is no more so than our our dock in Texas. We have the couple who are from Minnesota who are like us fixing up a good boat and heading out soon. There is Gary and Scotty who have many miles under their keel and I listen intently when he starts to talk. He is currently looking after the boat when we are not there. There is Larry who sailed the Atlantic, twice, and the Pacific. The college professor and his wife. She is a Cherokee and wonderful to listen to as she tells stories of the Cherokee. Charlie, who is right next door, who is planning a cruise due south on his South African boat. One of Charlie's first trips was escaping from communist held Viet Nam. And Doc, not sure about him, a little mysterious, generous to a fault, and lots of water under his keel. All of these sailors have helped us, encouraged us and inspired us.

: Our Sunrise view

Two of the Finest Kind are Dave and Shelley. They have been to the boat twice now and have been great to have aboard. They have jumped right in and worked on the boat with us, removing the old name, putting in new sea strainers, reviewing the engine, cleaning and even replacing a sanitation hose. Now that is being the Finest Kind! They were with us when we took the boat out of the slip and into the bay for the first time. I can't thank them enough for being crew for us that first journey.

: First trip out using the iPad for navigation

: First cruise with Dave and Shelley

: Yes it is that much fun

: Finest Kind

One of the things these two do is make us stop working on the boat and take time to look around. In this case we made a trip to Galveston and visited the tall ship Elissa. This ship was built in 1877 and during its' heyday paid two visits to Galveston. The story of her rescue and restoration is pretty inspiring. We made the short trip and spent time exploring this active ship.