Sailboats Forsale, Valiant, Passports, Tayanas, Mason

Sailing is also Family Fun There are those who think that sailing is only a sport, there are those who think that sailing is only a lifestyle…in reality, we have found over the years, it is most definitely both.

Sailing can be a sport and lifestyle for a single person, it can be a sport and lifestyle for couples. Some people sail for relaxation and some for competition. Sailing can be a lifestyle for weekend sailors, for world passagemaking and for full time liveaboards, and for many, sailing is the ultimate family experience. Over the past 25 years we have seen children raised onboard from infancy while cruising the seven seas (many schooled with home studies, including the great Calvert School) and we have seen many children who have competitively sailed as young as 5. We hope you will enjoy these pages of our friends and their children and please, feel free to send us your favorite "kid photo" for this web page, we would be proud to include them.

Herman and Patty Klingenmeir, aboard "PAPILLON" with daughter Kimmie and son Scott, sailing thru the Canadian Gulf Islands, heading toward Alaska. These friends continued their sailing adventures in the Caribbean with twin daughters who were born after this cruise.

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We would like to introduce you to a family of sailors, now 3 generations are sailing together, ranging in age from 2 to 92!

Our dear friend, Capt. Charles H. Mead, U.S.N. Ret, began his sailing career, 86 years ago, at the ripe old age of 7, when he sailed in the opening day of the Pan Pacific Exposition Regatta, San Francisco's' celebration, marking the completion of the brand new Panama Canal. From those exciting and early days on San Francisco Bay, "Captain Charlie" joined the U.S. Navy and served at the Battle of Midway, attaining the rank of Captain, by the time of his retirement.

Most people who spend their lifetime endeavors, in a pursuit as demanding as service at sea, would be content to spend their "golden" years puttering at hobbies such as tending a garden. This was not the case with "Captain Charlie", who not only joined a construction supply firm in Washington D.C. after retirement, but who also purchased an Alberg 30, "Bounty" and with his son "Chico" and daughter Eva, became an active, if not renowned, very competitive member of the Annapolis Sailing community.

We first met "Captain Charlie" in 1980 in the Bahamas, while he was on an extended cruise with his daughter Eva. Shortly after that cruise, then in his 70's, "Captain Charlie" bought a Valiant 40, taking delivery in Bellingham Washington, sailed again through the Panama Canal to deliver his new "home" to the Chesapeake Bay. Until 2 years ago, "Captain Charlie" lived onboard and sailed between the Caribbean, Bahamas, Bermuda, Florida and Annapolis, most
often single handing. He named this boat "LEO", after the first vessel he ever took command of, the U.S.S. Leo, (AKA-60), which was an attack cargo ship. The U.S.S. Leo, with "Captain Charlie" in command, saw two major actions in the Pacific, at both the invasion of Iwo Jima and the invasion of Okinawa. "Captain Charlie" first took command of the U.S.S. Leo in Puget Sound, only a few miles from the birthplace of his Valiant 40 "Leo" and he said at that time that the last ship he intended to command, would be his beautiful yacht "LEO".

His children have married and daughter Eva, along with her sailing husband, Tarrant Lomax of Annapolis, Maryland, have given Charlie his first grandchild 3 years ago. So, we would like to introduce you all to "Charlie" Lomax, clown and sailor.

Eva and Tarrant sent the 2 following photos, the first which Eva captured as "Charlie" decided to mimic dad and granddad! Though this looks like a staged photo, it is not. This child has been sailing since infancy and is like any kid trying on dads cloths, his dad, mom and granddad, just happen to be consummate sailors….looks like he will be too! Picture # 2 is little Charlie at the galley hatch at just 2 years old.

Tuscarora Cam

Stanley with Renelle Place, our niece who is a pilot and lives in Calgary, Alberta Canada. After graduating flight school, Renelle spent some months down island...one of her favorite places...the "most famous Foxy's" on Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands. It's a long way from the plains of Calgary to the sugar sand beaches of the Caribbean and we were a little concerned that all of that expensive education might go the way so many before her had gone..."down in a bottle of rum, laying on the beach like a bum, sailing the deep blue sea and Lordy ohhh, life is good to me" (song by Anonymous) We're happy to report we all enjoyed this island time immensely and Renelle is now a happy working woman in Calgary...with some great memories.