Boating Reincarnation!

“Do you wonder what or who you were in a previous life,” someone will always ask at the Dead End Canal Yacht Club Pirate Night party. 

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The fog always appears in the person's eyes as they try to remember. A mist surrounding a harbor light or the fog of warm air over snow on a mountain pass. Sometimes the answer given is more information than the questioner ever wanted. Not everyone could have been a Roman General or Cleopatra's handmaiden but many believe they were.

If I was, I don't remember. And I don't really believe in reincarnation but way back in some memory cubbyhole of my mind there is a vague feeling of being shot at and mostly missed, but shit at and mostly hit. Nothing I can put a finger on.

The sensation is magnified by my occasional visits to Culpepper & Company Nautical Antiques, Lighting and Decor located in West Palm Beach. From the very first time I stumbled into that run down converted gas station I was enveloped by, what I subconsciously realized, was my far distant past. Somewhere in the mist on a pitching deck on some foggy night far out at sea. Heaven to me!

I've felt it every time and I can only stay inside the building for a short period before the fresh air of reality beckons like the ringing fog bell. I don't dream of it nor do I fantasize about the adventure. In fact, after a visit there, my wanderlust is sated briefly.

David Culpepper is a ship wrecker several times removed. He travels to the far East to buy containers of booty from the ones that turn ocean going ships into scrap. He is a good guy who preserves the beauty and history of eras now long gone. He sells wholesale around the world and retail out of his overcrowded store.

They way I'm talking about this hallowed place you might assume I've spent mucho denaro there but in reality I've bought very little. Not that I didn't desire more or couldn't afford it but my problem is in the choosing and the (imaginary) electric charge emitted by the past or the future or... am I going crazy? Who could choose?

I believe I bought 3 small bronze 'tip' bells for bartenders who were sufficiently attentive over the years and Chinese net floats and a maidenhead but my wife made me take it back because it didn't 'fit' in our living room. It didn't fit in my office either but it took me a long time to return it!

Not all our flash backs are nautical. Boston Bob believes he was Paul Revere or at least one of his minions on that fateful night ride. “He had help. There were to many hamlets and villages to alert on horseback,” Bob argues convincingly. He contends that is the reason he worked for the Post Office despite having a college degree.

We believe Cap'n Crunch and Run-aground Ralph were the first officers on the Titanic but they scoff at the whole idea so we'll never know. The timing may be incorrect but the way they drive boats, we are not off base believing they were involved in an ancient maritime disaster.

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All of the members in our Dead End Canal Yacht Club have

probably been Shanghaied off some wharf during the square rigged Schooner heydays of ocean travel. Except for Texarkana Hanna, that is. She doesn't believe and doesn't wish to play because she doesn't want to remember any century but this one. But I ask you, what is so great about today?

This blog/column is meant for educational purposes only. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. All images are merely for humor and not meant to comment on subject. Void where prohibited. Some assembly required. Do not read while operating a vehicle or heavy machinery. Keep sending those great questions and comments! (Contact) boatguied@aol.com