On Sunday, we visited with my first cousins Harriet and Harry at their home in Boynton Beach. We were joined by Harriet's sister, Myrna (also my first cousin) and her husband, Kenny, her daughter, Nancy and her husband Fred and David, her son and his wife Lori (who's father runs a restaurant in Islamorada). My first cousin (once removed) Merrill Thurman also joined us. I had not seen her in 50 plus years, although I had talked and corresponded with her brother Michael (who lives in Boston). Harry and Harriet's friend, Estelle Ringold, who we had met several times in West Lafayette (and her dog Jet). It was a great reunion. We stayed with Harry and Harriet until 10:00 PM.
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| Harry, Harriet, Myrna, Kenny and Nancy with Diana and Les |
On Monday, after a leisurely morning, we returned the Enterprise Car and departed Delray Harbor Club (12:30) cruising slowly up the Intracoastal. On the way, I succeeded in making arrangements for some needed although not urgent maintenance (i.e., leaking head seals, intermittent dingy mast light and static in the starboard cockpit stereo speakers). The Rybovich Marine Center, where they used to build the famous Rybovich sport fishing boats, agreed to work on our boat ASAP and gave us directions to their yard, which is just north of the Port of Palm Beach. The yard today is owned by Wayne Huizenga (see March 12 article "Touching a bit of history").
The pleasant 25 mile run along this section of the ICW took three and a half hours, which again was due to low bridges and no/minimum wake areas. The scenery, however, changed as we progressed north from expensive homes along both sides of the waterway to condominiums to the west and luxury homes to the east (beach side). Nothing quite as spectacular as Fort Lauderdale or Miami. Oh yes, and more large yachts.
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| Luxury Hotel? in Palm Beach |
We arrived at the Rybovich at 4:30 PM and docked next to a Trumpy wooden motor yacht, which we learned later was built in 1947. Al, the service manager, helped us dock and showed us the transient facilities. Very nice considering that this is a working yard (e.g., complete media room).
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| 1947 Trumpy Motor Yacht |
As we walked to the facilities, I noticed a large yacht on the hard. Al explained that this was the
Presidential Yacht Honey Fitz, which was at the yard for a complete restoration. The yacht was used by Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. She is being
restored by a private owner for charter service.
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| Presidential Yacht Honey Fitz |
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| Presidential Seal |
On Tuesday morning, we met Jim Moores, the owner of the Trumpy, who it turns out, was the general contractor responsible for the total rebuild of the Honey Fitz's hull (literally, piece by piece from the outside in). From him I learned that she was built in 1931 by Defoe and that she is 93 feet. The hull rebuild will cost around $2,000,000 and the total retrofit will be in the neighborhood of $5,000,000. The link above to the Kennedy Presidential Library is fascinating.
Later that evening, Diana, Kodi and I took the dingy for an evening (8:30 PM) cruise on Lake Worth in search of a light dinner. With a little help from a fellow boater, who stopped to admire the Furry Kid, we were directed to the Sailfish Resort and Restaurant on the east side of Lake Worth. We had a lovely dinner and a magical evening, which turned more so when we arrived back at our boat and noticed that a 75 foot wooden yacht had docked next to us.
On Tuesday, during my discussion with Jim, I learned that
Justice, the 75, was built by Consolidated in 1930 and is the oldest surviving example of a Commuter Boat. Justice was actually used by her owner to commute from Connecticut to New York City in the 30s. Click on the link for more history.
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| 1930 75' Consolidated Motor Yacht |
What makes Justice unique is the fact that she is a
piercing hull, a design that enables her to cut through waves rather than ride on top of them as is the case with a planning hull. She is also capable of speeds exceeding 30 MPH. Note: She has a beam of only 13 feet as compared to Guided Discovery's beam of 14' 8". Up to now, I knew hulls as planning, semi displacement and displacement. Now I have added piercing to my knowledge base.
Note: Followers will recall that I worked on a 65 foot Wheeler Motor Yacht, the Randy Boatshoe, as first mate in the early 60s. It was owned by the Randolph Manufacturing Company; maker of the Randy Boatshoe, erstwhile competitor of the Sperry Topsider. Hence, my fascination with old wooden yachts.
Meanwhile, Guided Discovery's problems were being solved. We replaced the mount for the dingy mast light, changed the working parts in the heads and replaced the amplifyer for the cockpit stereo system. Total cost $1,310.
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| View of the eentertainment system gut with flat screen TV removed (amp is on the upper left) |
Oh yes, another nice feature of the Rybovich yard; floating dock. Add low cost dockage at $1.25 per foot and cheap fuel at $3.69 per gallon (as compared to $4.45 across the "lake" at Sailfish). Only downside is a rather depressed neighborhood. However, across the lake the neighborhoods are upsale and only a short dingy ride away.
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| Guided Discovery at Rybovich next to the 75 Consolidated |
Written by Les.
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