LETTERS
GLADES BOAT STORAGE On the Okeechobee Waterway Inland Hurricane Boat Storage Your Do-it-Yourself Work Yard
SAIL OR POWER
AS HURRICANE PROOF AS YOU CAN GET Locks on Both Sides — Minimal Storm Surge – No Tides 11 Miles West of Lake Okeechobee on the Okeechobee Waterway Stuart
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Moore Haven ay obee Waterw ch
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Lake Okeechobee
★Glades Boat Storage
La Belle Ft. Myers
12 MILES EAST OF La BELLE
Haul Outs: $2 per ft haul Storage Rate: $3.60/ft Work Area Rate: $17/day-$15/day — for project boats after 2 months in work yard Pressure Wash Rate: $1.50/ft for single hull & $1.75/ft for cat
24-HOUR, 7 DAYS A WEEK WORK YARD ACCESSIBILITY • Owner-operated by boaters for boaters • 8’ deep channel off the Waterway in freshwater section (for engine flush) • 40-ton lift — boats up to 16’ 6” beam • Dry storage at $4.50/foot per month • Crane Service • Auto/RV/Trailer Storage • Hot Showers!
GLADES BOAT STORAGE 2152 Boat Yard Rd. • Moore Haven, FL 33471
www.gladesboatstorage.com OFFICE PHONE: 863.983.3040 AFTER HOURS/WEEKENDS: 941.722.7722
10
January 2013
SOUTHWINDS
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anchorage area without a mooring ball, but with all the other benefits of the mooring field. Basically, it saves you about $75 dollars. I was not trying to save the $75. I had to move off the “state moorings” after six months. The option of city moorings was not desirable; too close to condos and channel, no sea breeze, etc. When Isaac decided to head our way, I decided that my boat would be safer back on a mooring ball than among other anchored boats. I was surprised (shocked) when I was told I would have to pay the difference between the anchorage area and the mooring ball for a weekly rate. Also a friend of mine who was in a slip at a marina, decided it would be safer to leave the slip and get on one of the 80 or so state mooring balls which were mostly empty. He stopped by my boat after checking in and thought it was price-gouging to charge a weekly rate when he might be there just a couple of days. I told him, “Welcome to Boot Key Harbor.” So, fellow boaters, if you are tired of Marathon Boot Key DRAMA, come on up to the Fort Myers Beach Mooring field. The price is better; the people are friendly, and you can dock your dinghy at several places, even near a grocery story. The locals do not greet you with their hand out for money, but to welcome you. By the way, when a storm is declared, the mooring field welcomes you to grab a mooring FOR FREE—just call them and tell them what mooring ball you are on. They want you to be safe. NO CHARGE. So, Kevin, come on up, and your odds of staying unemployed will decrease dramatically. No worries about retaliation. I will moor “no more” in Boot Key, one of the most depressing places I have stayed in the last 10-plus years. Capt. Doug Mensing, Fort Myers Beach Mooring Field Doug–That’s exactly what I have heard about Fort Myers Beach mooring field; friendly and boaters are welcome. Editor OPTIMIST PRAMS IN ENGLEWOOD IN THE 1950S Your nice feature by Clifford McKay on the origin of the Optimist Pram in the November issue brought back sweet memories. Some miles south of Clearwater in the mid-1950s, my father, Haste Hoadley, started a pram fleet in Englewood that grew to 12 boats and about 60 kids—boys and girls. I have a feeling he may have known McKay’s father. My dad did it through the local Lions Club, with members paying for each boat. My father and another man helped us kids build and paint the boats. During much of the year, every Saturday from our dock on Lemon Bay, we raced and raced. My twin sister Sherry and I were especially fierce competitors. One time, we took a few of our boats to a large regatta in Clearwater and got trounced. We learned a lot about how smooth bottoms and better sails could affect performance. On shallow Lemon Bay, my father would tell us to sail as far as we liked so long as we could still see the dock. If we capsized and couldn’t bail out, he said simply, “Wade over to shore and walk back. We’ll pick up the Pram later.” My father’s program ran from about 1953-59, when our family moved aboard a 48-foot ketch and left the Englewood area. It was the beginning of my lifelong love of sailing. Russell Hoadley New Orleans and Tampa www.southwindsmagazine.com