4th of July
By Bryant and Karen Gorrell
S/V Afternoon Delight
The 4th was like any other 4th of July. It was HOT! We started our celebration weekend on the 3rd, the day was hot! I mentioned that, right? Some were able to get out for a day sail, but our family didn’t make it out sailing that day. We got to the boat late afternoon and the air conditioning kept us from leaving the dock. I cancelled the movie of Captain Ron as it was too hot and too late to set up the movie. Instead, we set up the cooler full of refreshments and I started the grill for our Hobo Dinners. I have to say that the Hobo dinner was a success. Everyone came with their premade dinner. Bob and Barb actually had professional grilling bags for theirs. We enjoyed a nice breeze under the pavilion as dinner cooked on the charcoal grill. Our bag was a mixture of beef cubes, sweet potatoes and green beans and some seasoning. It was pretty dang good and a very easy cleanup. As always, it was great to hear the stories of past sailing trips and the history of the club. Smiles and laughs were had by all.
The 4th of July celebration started at noon. We had burgers and hot dogs with ice cold beer and assorted chips. We also made what is known as cooler corn on the cob. For dessert we had cupcakes. Everyone was very respectful of their distances, so masks were not really necessary. We had plenty of hand sanitizer out and tried to keep the sharing of food to a minimum.
The real fun was the auction. Everything was sold and the club made $85 dollars in the process. Everyone walked away with a bargain. Items sold included dock lines, barrier coat paint, fuse panels, and some great books. My daughter who is not a big sailor walked away extremely happy with a great stamp collection. We even had some passers-by that bid and bought items. Jason, we found is a bit of a horse trader and kept raising the bids on wanted items. I think he made the club some extra money! Everyone seemed to have a good time. My only wish was that we would have had a bigger turn out for the auction. Who knows, in the future, this could even be opened up to the marina and be a great source of income for the club. At 6 PM we left to find our place to watch the fireworks on Middle River. Most decided to find a place on land to watch and not end up in the boat parade on Middle River after the fireworks were completed.
Sunday was a nice day to just relax and we went for a beautiful sail that evening. I hope everyone had as nice of a 4th of July weekend as we did with good friends and family!
