At last, a real marine supply store!!

As previously mentioned, I've been searching for dinghy boots and warm sailing gear this week as my first day on the USF sailing team rapidly approaches.  What I failed to mention in my last post was that my dad and I have also been in search of a halfway decent marine supply store for the past three years.  Many years ago, in one of my dad's former lives and long before I existed, my uncle, who was a liveaboard sailor and cruiser at the time, sent my dad to a place called Turner Marine Supply on 13th St in downtown Bradenton to look at boat parts and other such nautical nonsense.  My dad, in turn, sent me and my scuba buddy to the same marine supply store/dive shop about twenty years later when we came to Tampa on spring break during our sophomore year of college to visit one of my aunts who lives here.  Sadly, after making the hour drive south, we were told by locked doors and a kind stranger on the street that my uncle's old haunt had been closed for two weeks and would not be reopening.  From what little my dad has told me about Turner Marine, I am able to distill only that its owner was kind and that it was a sailor's store through and through.  I was sad to see it go, and I was not a sailor at the time and I had never laid a foot beyond the parking lot, but I knew as I walked back to my car to leave that there were few of its kind left.  With West Marine moving onto every block like the Walgreens monopoly I only hoped that I'd find one of the few real marine supply stores left before it was too late.  Today, three years later, I am happy to report, I did.  I found Masthead Enterprises in St. Pete.

My friend, Emily, mentioned it briefly in a conversation we had a couple of weeks ago about where to get dinghy boots.  Living in Tampa though I really didn't want to drive all the way to St. Pete just to buy dinghy boots, but that's exactly what ended up happening.  There is a West Marine on Cypress St in downtown Tampa.  I live just North of Cypress so I called them this morning to see if they had dinghy boots.  "Oh yeah we carry them," they replied, "but we'll have to order them from the warehouse."  No thanks.  I need these bad boys by Tuesday, and I have weird feet so not everything fits in the same size.  I called four West Marine stores before I finally got a woman named Michelle who suggested that I go to Masthead.  I called Masthead and explained my dilemma, Meliza had one pair that we thought was my size, she put them on hold for me and I headed South.  An hour later I had established that the original boots were too small, and Meliza was finding me some that fit.  

These are my way too comfy dinghy boots.

From there she went on to find some dinghy socks that supposedly won't absorb water.  I'm not keen on the idea of dry socks, and I'm usually barefoot on sailboats or wearing boat shoes, but hey, if it keeps me warm I'll do it.  After the dinghy boot dilemma was resolved Meliza asked me if I needed anything else, and I told her that in addition to having an allergic reaction to socks, I also have a strong aversion to cold weather and asked her if they had any water resistant pants that would help keep me warm since everything I own is cotton, absorbs water and cold, and does not dry easily or promote heat.  That was when she went to the foul weather gear corner and pulled out the big guns.  She came back with a gray pair of "seat-drop trousers" that are usually worn for offshore cruising.  I was bewildered by their title and puzzled by the look of them.  Essentially they're the bottom part of a suit of foul weather gear and when worn with the proper undergarments, which I already have, they will keep you nice and dry whether in a gale offshore or in a dinghy in Tampa Bay.  After figuring out how to get them on and squatting, bending, and stretching in every position known to man Meliza and I were certain that they would do.  

  

My unusually large but excessively comfortable "seat-drop trousers" with reinforced knees and seat.  Don't ask...

Lastly, Meliza asked if I needed a "splash guard" also called a "rash guard."  Emily has told me that the sailing team has a couple that we can borrow on really chilly days, but she said that they're usually too big for her and she's my size.  All of this gear is made to last about ten years so I figured that I'd go ahead and get it and use it plenty between the sailing team and all of my other future sailing endeavors.  Trying to reduce the potential mammoth cost that sailing gear can often times elicit, Meliza decided to see if I could fit into a kid's size splash guard; that was funny!  I got into it fine but the waist was a little short and then I couldn't get out of the damn thing.  At one point I had my head inside of the body of it with my arms and hair sticking out the sleeves and neck hole.  I must have looked like a turtle turned Cousin It.  We both got a good laugh out of it.  We finally found one that fit, and after I paid and thanked Meliza for her wonderful assistance I was on my way to sit in rush hour traffic at four o'clock for an hour on the Howard Frankland Bridge over the bay.  

This is my adult friendly splash guard which is to be worn over the upper part of the "drop-seat trousers."

I know, you're probably thinking, "You live in Tampa!  How cold can it get in Florida??!"  The answer is 40's.  That's right, it hits 40 here sometimes and in the heart of winter the nights can hit the 30's.  Add to all of that cold water and biting wind and see what you'd do.  Not to mention that after living here for a year your tough resistance to the cold begins to fade and you get soft.  Besides, I still go to Tennessee in October sometimes and that's technically still sailing season there which means that it's really, really cold if my dad and I choose to go out. Besides, although I hope to live in Florida or warmer areas for the rest of my life I would like to do some sailing up North.  I've heard a lot about sailing off the coast of Maine, and other places in New England like Connecticut, Maryland, and one of my favorites, the tide water area of Virginia in Hampton Roads.  Regardless of where I sail, I'm sure my warm waterproofs will serve me well even if they are "butt flap, band pants" as my sister so kindly put it earlier today.

Okay well that's all I've got for now.  If you happen to be a sailor in the greater St. Pete area be sure to swing by Masthead Enterprises sometime at 2201 1st Ave S in St. Pete, they're very friendly and even more gracious.  They even have a dog behind the counter and on my way out I got passed by a man carrying a jib in to be repaired, now that's a sailing store!  Turner Marine might have closed before I got a chance to visit it and become friends with the owner as my uncle and father have done, but my own salty (mis)adventures have led me to my own marine supply store.  I had to get to Masthead in my own time and in my own way which seems to have been found in the most unusual of places, seven hundred miles from home in a dinghy.  Thanks again Meliza, you saved my toes from frostbite, I am forever grateful.