Boating is...by boatguy Ed Fort Myers Beach is a satirical site!

I've never been a flag waver because I've never felt the need to confirm my Patriotism. I have my VA card to do that, if ever questioned. Likewise, I don't belong to any service clubs mostly because they smoke in them. And I wasn't ever a big green wearer on St. Pat's Day because of my red hair. If you couldn't tell I was Irish, you were blind. The non-Irish dressed up like clowns all in green. I wore just enough to piss off any Johnny Bulls I'd come across. I was never ashamed of any of it, you understand. I was accosted by a young hippie girl in the Pittsburgh Train Station the night I got out when she tried to throw a drink on me. Her aim was off because she didn't remove the lid and it went all over her as well. It was the perfect excuse to get out of my uniform and I arrived home in civvies which disappointed my Mother some. For thirty years I never thought much of my Army experience. I hadn't been permanently stationed in Vietnam

Boating….2004 by boatguy Ed          “This ain’t supposed to happen here,” were the words that bounced around in my head as I watched the local weather person bravely contradict NOAA about where the killer storm would landfall. For two days I had joined family and friends in the ritualistic tying up of boats, tossing pool furniture into the pool, boarding up windows and filling sandbags. But I never believed it was coming so close.             Our CBS affiliate called it first but within minutes the combined NBC/ABC team confirmed that the storm was taking an easterly turn and would impact the coast very closely to the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. That was between 1:30 and 2 p.m. and up to that moment we were staying. We left for obvious reasons.             I can rationalize meteorologicaly why our 44-year-old streak without a major hurricane ended on Friday the 13th. The comparisons between the 1960 Hurricane Donna and Charley are striking in both direction an

Happy Day, Mommy! Boating America’s Cup racing on Ft. Myers Beach? by boatguy Ed Can you get excited about sailing? Have you ever watched The America’s Cup on television? If the answer is yes to either of these questions then you might have enjoyed an afternoon on the bright clear water off Ft. Myers Beach last Saturday. My old “Boating Show” television co-host, Captain Roger Nodruff and I went out on his 24 foot Morgan fishing charter boat in search of our youth. We’d both been smitten with sailboat racing in our younger days and the opportunity to be so close to so many good and great sailors was too much to pass up. The occasion was the 2004 Fantasy Sail Weekend, Leukemia Cup Regatta hosted by Gary Jobson and Colgate Sailing School to benefit t he Leukemia & Lymphoma Society trying to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Sailors from across