Key Largo Adventures: Real Marina Life in the 1960's (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781453899823)

Captain George E. Brewer has over 50 years of boating experience, in areas as diverse as the New England coastline and the Mississippi River. For nearly eight years he was a hands-on marina operator. Brewer designed, built, and managed his own marina in the Florida Keys. Brewer was born in Massachusetts, where he spent summers at his grandfather's house in the small town of Marion on Buzzard's Bay. The house had been an old sail loft- for storing, mending and making sails. Attached was a large docking facility. George's grandfather and uncle owned several sailboats and rowboats. Inside the home were ship models from floor to ceiling. As well, the walls were covered with oils, prints, and photographs of ships. In this environment, George's interest in boating was born. At age ten, the author built his own 12-foot sailing dingy from plans he followed in a Popular Mechanics magazine. Boating soon became his passion. His summers were spent sailing or crewing on anyone's boat that needed an extra hand. Within a few years he was able to purchase a Herrishoff sailboat, which was the most popular racing class in the Cape Cod area. And while at Groton School, the author had the good fortune to take an elective course in weather analysis. Then, when the U.S. and Canadian governments co-sponsored an Arctic expedition to Greenland on the schooner Bowdoin, he was one of 15 crewmembers chosen. The purpose of the expedition was to make ocean charts in the mostly uncharted northern waters between Baffin Land and Greenland. The most secretive purpose was to locate uranium deposits known to exist along areas of the west coast of Greenland. After the Greenland trip, Brewer had accumulated enough sea time to study for, and take his U.S. Coast Guard captain's license, which he still holds. During the Korean War, the author was assigned to the 12th Weather Squadron. After he was discharged he worked as a factory representative for a building materials manufacturer, covering New England and then Missouri. This gave him a good income and the opportunity to boat every weekend on the east coast, then the Mississippi river system. His ultimate goal was someday to build his own marina. With George's extensive boating experience, he knew he could incorporate the best features and avoid the worst situations he had seen in other marinas. It is at this point that the story begins.