Sailing/Racing Pre College:

Sailing, adventure, touches of danger and a lot of Huck Finn
Ondongo is a island in the Solomon Islands where my father spent time in WWII
Ondongo became the name of our boat, a 41 foot sloop
We slept in bunks, eat in the main cabin, took showers from a bucket
A Bohemian life style which has been imprinted on my soul.

Ondongo with her mast down ready for the river trip. Fixed bridge clearance necessitated dropping the mast
Traveling down the river tied up for the night. This 'berth' is an abandon lock over 100 years old
Dingy maintenance was my job. Not very good at varnishing but I have improved.
Dad taking it easy at the helm. Barge traffic posed the most danger on the river trip. We did day and costal hops so we never got caught in much bad weather.
Mom in the Galley. We had a real 'ice box', a hand water pump and a propane stove to cook with. Notice the racks which hold bottles, glasses and other objects from rolling around in stormy weather.
Burr and I on the bow watching a Lightning regatta at Southern Yacht Club New Orleans.
Big boat sailing adventure over, back to working in the bakery at Largo Fla. I and Burr worked in the shop after school and on weekends.
Sailing in small boats. This is a Windmill, 14 foot, two person boat. Fun to sail, fun to race. I won my first trophy in this boat.
The Windmill was designed by Clark Mills who also designed the Optimums Pram. His son and I are good friends, we would sail and surf together.
Surfing was the cool thing to do when living near the beaches. We had great fun and had dreams of doing an 'Endless Summer'.
Boards were big back then and surf was small on the Gulf coast. We would drive over to the Atlantic side and surf at Coco Beach.
Graduation at Largo High School. I already experienced many adventures but I had plans for more. I had my father's dreams.
With in a month I was traveling on my own. At 18 I am in Sidney Australia on my way to the Great Barrier reef. I had hitch hiked, around Australia and New Zealand.