Saturday, June 10, 2023

"What a Moment!" Sighting of the Wreck of the Appotomax

 Water Temp: 58 per the Buoy

Air Temp: low 80s, sunny haze
Waves: Small chop, north breeeze
Clarity: Enough to see the Shipwreck!
Kru:  Quite large, see below
Shore Support:  Linda the Lamprey, Adam, Squeeze o' Showgirl, Mr. Dragonfly

The sand was hot, the water was chill and a little rough as the intrepid Kru set out for its annual inspection of the Wreck of the Appomattox.

Always the question of this event:  Should we attempt to swim out to the weather Buoy, which taunts us from the edge of the horizon - about a mile offshore (AND a mile back)?  (It also frequently taunts us with capricious  temperature and wave readings.)

"The wind is rising.  The chickens are rotating," Showgirl advised against it.

The southbound Appomattox, a 300-foot wooden bulk steamer, sunk after running aground in fog on November 2, 1905 (a Thursday.)  Seeing the wreck fell as usual somewhere on the spectrum between thrill and anticlimax.  "Here it is! I've got it!"  Someone shouted.  A group of us swam toward that person.  

"So that's it!"  "What a moment!" Were these comments ironic?  I couldn't be sure.

I myself never got more than a fleeting glimpse of what might have been it.  I would swim over to where a group had gathered, and see what appeared to be large ripples in the sand.

Only Moondaug and Serious Athlete fearlessly braved the power boats as they set out to swim to the Buoy  Did they make it?  "We ran into some difficulties," said Moondaug.  "A large Lake Anaconda.  By the time we were done tangling with that we were really off course."

Later I overhead Magic Mike query:  "Did you get to the buoy?"
"We had no idea where the  heck it was!" admitted Serious Athlete.

Swimming was followed by delectable grilled chicken, ribs with unending BBQ sauce (thanks, Kahuna), German potato salad AND coleslaw, cornmeal muffins, Riverwest Stein beer, Coors Edge NA, ice cold water, ice cream, strawberries and chocolate sauce.  Good fellowship along two end-for-end picnic tables. It was a veritable feast and party, and really quite overwhelming.


Who's who on the Klode Kru:
Mystery Man, We'taco, Brady, Mermaid Princess, Moondaug, HFON, Kim, Showgirl, Fin-Fyn, Kahuna, Hollywood, Dragonfly, Magic Mike, Mr. Anonymous, Serious Athlete
Missing:  Scooby Steve



6 comments:

Moondaug said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Moondaug said...

Thankyou Kahuna and Shorewood's Men's Club for the great food, music and festivities. Just remember next year, just cause it's a men's club doesn't mean y'all have to be barbarians. Y'all can use knives too!

Kahuna said...

Tues. AM Report:
Water Temp: 58 per thermometer, 56 per the Buoy (and that's what it felt like out there)
Air Temp: lower 50's and some clouds. Cool breeze
Waves: Swells
Clarity: Meh.
Kru: Showgirl, Mr. A, Magic Mike, Lt. MJ, LTL, somebody else? and 4 whimhoffers

Serious Athlete said...

Beat the rain!

Moondaug said...

FYI to all, Lisa's I read is closing this month. As Lisa's was once a traditional pizza place with great pizza where Klode Krew would traditionally meet up from time to time, perhaps last outing there?

Dragonfly Riffraff said...

Yes to Lisa's. What a tragedy.