Rita Connors Gerred

We (Pam & Yelda Miedema, SV "Saltwhistle", Kingston, Ontario, Canada) first met Rita and Frank at the marina in St Marys, Georgia. They were on the dock, together with Alan & Sharon Christiansen (SV "Orphalese"), and grabbed our dock lines as we came careening into the dock. The fast & tricky cross-current in the St. Mary's River at that point has turned docking into a spectator sport! In any event, as sailboaters tend to do, the six of us quickly became friends and spent the weekend hanging out. On the first leg of our journey north for the summer, we all sailed over to Cumberland Island, the former summer home of the Carnegie family, and spent the day exploring the island and the ruins of the former Carnegie family mansion. The next day, we all headed north up the ICW. Rita and Frank, experienced sailors that they were, having listened to and accurately assessed the NOAA weather forecast, wisely decided to duck into the marina at the Fish Camp marina near Darien, GA, to ride out the pending storm! We comparative rookies weren't that smart and decided to continue on. To cut a long story short, while Rita and Frank rode out the 36-hour storm comfortably tethered to the dock in the Fish Camp, the rest of us spent a most uncomfortable 36 hours rockin' & rollin' at anchor in the Georgia swamp. The attached photo is of a happy hour hosted by Rita and Frank aboard their boat. Our condolences to the family.