WELCOME TO OUR SENIOR READERS
We hope the large typeface will be helpful rather
than irritating. Of course you can adjust it for yourself, but we thought we'd
save you the trouble. If you have any comment or suggestion to make about the
way this page is put together we're sincerely interested to hear it.
On this
page we look forward to hearing from anyone, and everyone, over
60. Lower down this page, we meet a man of 72 who is an inspiration to men of
half his age and we hope to hear your story, too. Perhaps, if you are stricken
by modesty, someone else will tell us all about you.
Reminisce on this page about how yachting or any other life
afloat, used to be. Tell us your adventures of the past and, if you're still sailing
now, your current adventures.
Your hopes and fears, triumphs and tragedies. There's room for all of them in our
hearts.
The third generation have so much to teach and so much to
share. Won't it be nice to know that your wisdom and experience are recorded here for all generations to benefit
from?
If you'd like other members of the yachting community to keep a friendly eye out
for you, say so here and readers can introduce themselves to you when they meet
your boat out there.
Wondering whatever happened to your old sailing pals of all those years ago? Try asking the readers of this page and see if you can be put back in touch
again. Wouldn't that be great? Don't wait for everyone else to write in before you
bother. Write to us now, just to say hello, if nothing else.
A YOUNG 72!
Joe Bradley of the "Summer Breeze"
Whilst hunting for a willing editor of the Vintage Salts page, we were very happy to meet a fellow sailor although
not, unfortunately, one yet conversant with cyberspace.
Joe Bradley has been sailing since he was six years old and is now "a young
seventy-two" as he puts it.
This remarkable man, from Aspen, Colorado, is still very active as a snow ski instructor back in Aspen, where he works for the Aspen Skiing
Company. He is qualified to instruct students on all four of the mountains used by the company but he mainly
works on 'Buttermilk' mountain.
Joe used to be a paramedic and the injuries he witnessed made him very conscious of the importance of safety training. Joe
is, rightly, proud to be able to say that there hasn't been a single injury amongst his students in the past eight
seasons. The company have very strict safety codes and, since Joe has been working with them since 1978, we suspect he has probably been instrumental in their
existence.
Certified by the Professional Ski Instructors of America again, in March of this
year, Joe is a graduate of PSIA National Academy.
"I've paid my dues" he says " but teaching skiing and sailing are the most exhilarating things I've done in my
life, apart from being married to my wonderful wife".
Joe's wife, Jo, " a Los Angeles girl", is back home in Southern California at the
moment, having recently lost her mother, of whom Joe was clearly very fond.
Joe hopes his wife will make it back to his side soon. It is obvious that he misses her
company.
Their boat is a Gulf Star 44, the 'Summer Breeze'. Joe and Jo bought her on May 15th 1983. When asked how it was that he remembered the purchase to the very
day, Joe laughed.
"Oh, dates are easy" he said, "It's names I'm no good at!"
After a pleasurable sail from St. Thomas, in the US Virgin Islands, where the boat was
bought, to the Leeward Islands, 'Summer Breeze' was kept at Bobby's Marina in
St. Philipsburg on Sint Maarten for a while. For the next ten years, the couple sailed the Windward
Islands, mainly based in Rodney Bay, Grenada.
In 1994, the couple sailed the Southern Leeward islands and on August 15th 1994
(there we go with the dates again) they visited the island of Martinique. They have never been north of there
since!
They then, in company with the yacht 'Odyssey', made an adventurous trip to the Orinoco delta, visiting several rivers on the
way, exploring the Macareo river and then climbing to Angel Falls.
There was some consternation, amongst the locals, about letting people of advancing years risk the climb but Joe assured them that he was as happy at four thousand feet above sea level as sailing on the surface of that same sea
and, having vouched for the safety of the rest of the party, was able to enjoy the breathtaking spectacles offered by that
trek.
Several canoe trips later, the party returned to the Orinoco delta where they met quite a few native
Indians and saw an unbelievable variety of flora and fauna. "Wild animals
everywhere" said Joe, "
it was incredibly lovely. I'd love to do it again."
After studying weather patterns, and having heard good things about the quality and price of work done
there, Joe and Jo decided to bring 'Summer Breeze' to Chaguaramas Bay on the north west coast of the
island.
After a string of unfortunate incidents with the first boatyard they chose, the couple moved to another yard
briefly, then to Power Boats.
Situated centrally in the swathe of marinas which have cropped up over the past few
years, Power Boats enjoys an excellent reputation
with a good number of regular visitors.
"I enjoy tinkering and pottering" Jo told me, "but when I get into trouble I hire experts here at Power
Boats. Richard Brooks here is probably the best diesel mechanic in Trinidad.
Teepo, (or maybe you spell that Tepo, or could it be Tipo) is a jack of all
trades. He's very friendly and an excellent worker. Caribbean Marine know what they're doing too.
I will use no worker unless approved by Power Boats, they always give good value and
price. I really like the food here in Sails Restaurant, too" he said, with a twinkle in his
eye, as the waitress appeared with a plateful of what certainly looked
mouth-watering. Brown rice and tasty looking vegetables, crowned with two wooden
skewers, generously loaded with meat.
"I'm looking forward to the live music, tomorrow night" Joe said, between
mouthfuls, "if you're coming, be here before six or you're not likely to find a table free! I'm looking forwards to next
week, too when David and Joy from the yacht 'Mood Indigo' will be giving one of their
concerts. I really appreciate them".
Joe resumed his enjoyment of the food and then, with a pensive look, he said
"I enjoy challenges, be it sailing or skiing, but I particularly enjoy getting on with
people. I work at it all the time. I hate to argue with anybody. I often help my students with their
problems, I suppose I've developed a certain expertise at it, over time. I try never to
pre-judge people, but to judge them by what sort of a person they are. I think most people like me and I certainly try to find the best in people so I like most of the people I
meet, although not always immediately".
A graduate chemist, in plastics, Joe switched to the retail hardware business in 1953. " I saw a future in
it, and I liked people."
he says. When asked about family, Joe told me that he and Jo have three sons and three daughters by two
marriages. They have nine grandchildren with an age range of three to seventeen
years, including a pair of fraternal twins (two ova, fertilized separately, thus not
identical), adorable nine-year-olds.
"I've taught most of them to ski" he said, "we have a lot of fun when they come out to Aspen and we ski
together. My wife, Jo, could be a ski instructor, she's good enough but she doesn't like all the rules and
restrictions. If our fingernails are dirty, or we turn up late, we might lose
work. If our uniforms and the bodies in them are not immaculate, we definitely lose
work. I'm a good obeyer of rules so I always get work. Jo likes a smoke when she feels like
it, not when the company permits! All those rules are not for her".
Joe went on, " speaking of rules, I have a rule myself. I always pay my bills as soon as I am satisfied that work has been done
satisfactorily. I get to pay my bills promptly around here. Donald
Stollmeyer (director of Power Boats) goes out of his way to give a good service and a good
deal. I love the rest of the Caribbean but Power Boats is 'home' to me".
What a pleasure to meet such an energetic, positive and appreciative Vintage
Salt. We wish Joe and Jo many happy years of sailing and time off 'at home' in Power
Boats.
Joe Bradley was interviewed by Linnet Woods
What has changed for the better in the world of sailing? What has changed for the worse?
What topics would you like to see under discussion on this page? Tell us what you'd like and we'll do our best to accommodate you.
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Do you shop on the Internet? How does it feel to you, to be in Cyberspace? Are
you at home there? We have noticed many of our older friends seem to have taken
to the Internet with much greater ease than the middle-aged fraternity? Have
you any ideas on why that might be so?
We'd be pleased to hear what you think of it, as we will be relying on our
readers to tell us whether we're linking up with the right places on the
Internet, or not, once we start linking up, and to suggest good sites to link
to...
Drop us a line by e-mail, just click on our address!
In the meantime, there are various stories which may be of interest, dotted
about MarineZine, for instance, on the Shades
Of Grey page in All Afloat is the sad story of the 'Wilhelm Gustloff' and,
in the same section 'A
Friendly Spy' or there's our special feature: 'The
Sinking of Star Dust' in the News section, to name but some of them. You may also be as fascinated as we were by the
four-times (three times single-handed) circumnavigator, 68-year-old Utz Muller-Treü's
trousers, in the next
issue of MarineZine...
How's your naval history knowledge? If you haven't already, you may like to try
our In-Quiz-ition No.1 on the
InQuizitive page of Quizzicles, our diversions section. Ten questions with links
to the answers. If you enjoy de-coding messages, try your hand at our Flag
Puzzle - if you de-cipher the message and e-mail it to us your name
will go into a free draw. Five lucky winners will get a choice of prizes. Good
luck!
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