Last Fall at a Navy football game, Lynn and Lew Blackwell told me that they were going sailing in April in the British Virgin Islands with Miller Detrick and Ian Sargent and spouses. I became good friends with Lew and Lynn while we were at Business School. On a whim they said "Why don't you and Kate join us?' Well, I haven't done much sailing since plebe summer, except a trip from Newport to Annapolis over 20 years ago. I remembered being asked to go sailing a number of years ago by my old buddy, Mike Cronin, but unfortunately had to decline. Mike has a sailboat on Cape Cod and has completed sailing trips in the Caribbean three times before. Mike said he and Jackie would love to do it again
So, fast forward to the first week of April. We had a 35 ft sloop (PIP) and the other boat was a 44 ft catamaran (ABROS). On it were Miller and Connie Detrick; Lew and Lynn; Ian and Fern Sargent and their daughter, Carrie; and Dave Parsons, a Navy squadron mate of Miller's and his spouse, Becky. Their boat was a luxury yacht with big areas for galley and lounge areas and each couple having their own stateroom, shower, and head. They were not true sailors like Mike, Jackie, Kate, and me. They had a one-day start on us, and we were delayed right from the start when we moved about five feet and got a line tangled around our prop. We beat our way up the Sir Francis Drake Channel and arrived about 1700 at the Bitter End Yacht Club in Virgin Gorda, BVI. Miller guided us in his dinghy to our mooring buoy right next to their boat and invited us to join them for dinner on board their boat. Dave and Becky fixed dinner and, after dinner and several bottles of wine, Dave had to endure hearing our sea tales from our days at the Academy and summer cruises. It turned out Dave was NROTC from Michigan and he wanted to know how to get in touch with Duane Buckingham from a summer cruise and Al Griggs from flight training.
The next morning the ABROS set sail for Anegada, while we took a more leisurely route and spent time on a private beach on Virgin Gorda. Then in the afternoon, we sailed over to Marina Cay on Tortola and anchored. We headed ashore for Happy Hour at the island's bar and then Mike spent the night checking to see if our anchor would hold in the strong wind, so we wouldn't run ashore. We didn't and in the morning went ashore for showers ($1.25 for 2 1/2 minutes). While there, I read how this little island got its start. Seems a Robb White and his bride came to the island in 1937 and built a small place and lived off the sea. They lived three idyllic years on their island retreat until 1940, when Mr. White was recalled to active duty in the Navy. He was USNA Class of '31 and graduated five numbers above John McCain's father, ADM John McCain, Jr. After the war, they divorced and never went back, but others have kept it going. Next we sailed to Cooper Island and spent 24 hours taking it easy on the beach, before we headed to the Bight on Norman Island to meet up with the ABROS. This time we led them to the mooring buoy. We treated them to drinks on the Willy T - a floating restaurant that was having happy hour. While there, we noticed a sign for a free t-shirt to anyone jumping nude off the second deck. Lo and behold, one couple stripped and jumped. Thank God, none of us had enough drinks to follow them. Again the ABROS crew was very hospitable and invited us aboard for dinner with Lew and Lynn as the cooks. We parted the next day and ended up spending the night in a cove on St. John before we headed back. Someday, over a drink, we will tell you the rest of the story.
It sure is nice to get together with classmates and spouses, 43 years after graduation, and share food, wine, and sea stories. Time is wastin', boys - go to that Class get-together, reunion, or luncheon, call the guys in your company and have dinner, or better yet set up a mini reunion for your USNA Company. There are too many good times that we need to share with special people with whom you spent four years together growing into manhood on the Severn. Do it today while you still have the chance!
As the pictures show, a great time was had by all. In the back row of the group photo are Miller, Lew, Mike, Jim, and Sarge; in front are Lynn Blackwell, Connie Detrick, Jackie Cronin, Kate Ring, and Fern Sargent.
