Day 220 - Kimbob — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 0, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $75, daily high temperature 82°f

Today was registration day for the Looper Rendezvous. There are 260 of us here. The group grows larger each year. The opening event is an introduction of Loopers in process. We are asked to give our names, the name and type of boat, when and where we started the Loop and any notable experiences. Dale spoke in the afternoon session and I spoke at the dinner session. I shared the story of our crossing the Gulf Stream with the crab pot line on our prop and the encounter with the bull sharks at the Big Game Club in Bimini.

A view of the Waterside Marina where we are staying for the Rendezvous.

It was fate that we shared our dinner table with another would be double cruising couples. Larry and April and Kimbob and Ellen are from California and are going to do a 50/50 partnership and buy a boat to do the Loop. They are coming back to look at CL on Tuesday. George and Pat Hospodar from Reflection also sat with us.

Future double Loopers L-R – April, Larry, Kimbob and Ellen

A massive thunder storm was rolling in so we left dinner during the Gold Looper introductions. Gold Loopers are Loopers that have completed the Loop. Platinum Loopers are Loopers that have completed the Loop two or more times. We arrived at the boat just before the downpour.

We have another Looper with a life changing story. Perhaps you remember the story about the motorcycle accident from the couple we met at the Osprey Marina. In this instance Artie’s near fatal car crash on Long Island, NY saved his life. Artie and his wife sold the house, sold the kids and all their worldly possessions to do the Loop. Artie was involved in a head on collision in his Ford Focus. He had multiple broken bones and other injuries. The doctors did an MRI to determine the extent of his injuries and in addition to all his crash related injuries they found early stages of pancreatic cancer. By catching the cancer in the early stages he had a successful operation and is cured. The surgery caused Artie and his wife to miss the weather window for a the Loop trip north from NY so instead they headed south to Florida. Artie is healed and they are now headed north and will continue on the Loop this year. They will pass through Chicago in late August. One other comment. Artie was a salesman for a lumber supply company during the same time I was a Rust-Oleum paint salesman in New York and New Jersey in 1974 – 1978. There is a very good chance we crossed paths at the same accounts back in the day.

A bit of good news. Those of you that are long time blog readers may recall our story about Tom from Elizabear fixing our generator after we blew the circuit breaker. He thought he had a debilitating undiagnosed muscle disease. He was losing all use of his legs. After five years he has been diagnosed with a pinched nerve in his back. Elizabear is on the hard and he is scheduled for back surgery in the near future.

Norfolk is a major Navy shipyard. There are many ships being built and repaired here.

Bonus photo – sand art.

Dave (Mac) McKenna provided this link to an article in USA today regarding America’s Great Loop.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2016/04/29/great-loop/83659330/

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote of the day.

“If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever.” – Thomas Aquinas

Tommaso d’Aquino, OP (Latin: Thomas de Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274), also known as Saint Thomas Aquinas, is a Doctor of the Church. He was an Italian Dominican friar and Roman Catholic priest, who was an immensely influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism, within which he is also known as the “Doctor Angelicus” and “Doctor Communis”. The Latin name “Aquinas” identifies his ancestral origins in the county of Aquino (in the present-day Lazio region), an area where his family held land until 1137.

He was the foremost classical proponent of natural theology and the father of Thomism. His influence on Western thought is considerable, and much of modern philosophy developed or opposed his ideas, particularly in the areas of ethics, natural law, metaphysics, and political theory. Unlike many currents in the Church of the time, Thomas embraced several ideas put forward by Aristotle—whom he called “the Philosopher”—and attempted to synthesize Aristotelian philosophy with the principles of Christianity. The works for which he is best known are the Summa Theologiae and the Summa contra Gentiles. His commentaries on Sacred Scripture and on Aristotle form an important part of his body of work. Furthermore, Thomas is distinguished for his eucharistic hymns, which form a part of the Church’s liturgy.