My Dad & Mum purchased their home away from home on Paradise Bay in 1970. Later in years, what a pain the neck it was transporting everything by boat – Dad said he purposely selected this cottage on an island so his unwelcomed relatives could not pop over for a visit.
Enjoying the regatta every summer, Dad decided to buy a sailboat and it had to be a “big one” so he could win the shiny Big Sailboat Category Trophy. He purchased an old 23’ Star Sailboat that had a 33’ mast and a 900 lb steel keel that used to race on Lake Ontario. It was rotting away in an old farmer’s field. Dad brought it back to life and won many races at the Regatta.
One day, we received a call from Al Lenauska and he said “John, your sailboat has sunk.” Dad did not believe Al, but decided to pack the family in the car and drive up to Go Home in the pouring rain. As we came around the corner in our little boat, Dad was devastated to only see the mast sticking up out of the lake – this was Dad’s pride and joy named ‘TITAN’.
It had been struck by lightening, which blew out the bolts underneath. We had so much fun trying to figure out how to raise the ‘TITAN’ and we did. Dad took it back home and fixed it. Mum said “John, there is no bloody way I am going to sail on a boat that has sunk.” Dad then changed the name to ‘APOLLO’.
When Dad passed away, we had to select a coffin for him, and can you believe there was one named ‘TITAN’? We all had a chuckle because Dad had an amazing British sense of humor. Mum was pleased that Dad went down in his pride a joy the ‘TITAN’.
GO HOME LAKE IS THE PLACE TO BE!!!