Day 128 - TrawlerFest — Captain Father John

Riviera Beach, Florida weather – high temperature 70*f

It rained all night and it rained all day at TrawlerFest in Riviera Beach, Florida. Not very good for business. Only a few potential customers walking the docks with umbrellas. There are about 50 boats for sale at the show. Prices range from $125,000 to over $2,000,000. There is a full range of brands from President to Kady Krogen to Beneteau.

This boat is a Pilgrim 40

TrawlerFest is a great way to compare the various trawlers in one place. We could have sold the President 47 three times today. Unfortunately or fortunately she is already sold. We will assist those buyers in finding another boat of their dreams.

Here I am in my Weber Yachts uniform

One of our blog friends Bill Valters sent this – “Just read your posting on crossing the Okeechobee and thought of sending you this photo of a 300 pound wild boar that I shot north of Port Maraca. The area is full of gators and snakes. We were on the edge of the lake in half land and swamp. The farmers son drove the buggy pictured in the background on their 20,000 acres of farm land. The state is overrun with hogs, pythons and iguanas.”

Bonus photo

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote of the day.

“The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach.” – Henry Beston

Born Henry Beston Sheahan in Boston, he grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts with his parents, Dr. Joseph Sheahan and Marie Louise (Maurice) Beston Sheahan, and brother George. Beston attended Adams Academy in Quincy before earning his B.A. (1909) and M.A. (1911) from Harvard College.

After leaving Harvard, Beston took up teaching at the University of Lyon. In 1914 he returned to Harvard as an English department assistant. Beston joined the French army in 1915 and served as an ambulance driver. His service in le Bois le Pretre and at the Battle of Verdun was described in his first book, A Volunteer Poilu. In 1918, Beston became a press representative for the U.S. Navy. Highlights from this period include being the only American correspondent to travel with the British Grand Fleet and to be aboard an American destroyer during combat engagement and sinking. His second book of journalistic work, Full Speed Ahead, described these experiences.

Following the end of World War I, Beston began writing fairy tales under the name “Henry Beston”. In 1919, The Firelight Fairy Book was published, followed by The Starlight Wonder Book in 1923. During this time, he worked as an editor of The Living Age, an offshoot of The Atlantic Monthly. He also met his future wife Elizabeth Coatsworth, a fellow author of children’s literature, during this time.