Since we joined about six months ago, we’ve really enjoyed being members of the OCC, or Ocean Cruising Club. We’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of interesting people and we’ve been able to start paying back some of the assistance we’ve received by helping out other sailors.
Some OCC members either cruise part-time or have now returned from cruising to live on land full time. Since they liked the ocean enough to go cruising in the first place, many now have homes with water access. And in keeping with the OCC ethos of helping others, many make their personal docks or mooring buoys available to passing OCC members for short-term stays.
Harvey and Pam Geiger cruised aboard their Westerly , and they now split their time between Maine and a beautiful house in the Wexford community on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina. Wexford is built around a winding lagoon, and the large (8ft, or 2.6m) tides of the area are dealt with by a lock that controls access and keeps the lagoon depth at a steady 10ft/3.2m.
Once inside and tied up to the dock, Harvey visited Madrone, invited us to lunch with Pam at their house, and welcomed us to use the pool. An avid croquet player who was inducted into the US Croquet Association Hall of Fame, Harvey also offered to teach us the basics of croquet.
The following morning, Harvey called back to invite us to take the place of one of their foursome who couldn’t make that day’s match. Adorned in the best approximation of croquet whites that boat life allows, we joined the match and managed to not completely embarrass Harvey (or at least that’s what we tell ourselves).
After about a month of being at anchor, it’s nice to have the opportunity to tie up to a dock for a change – Wexford is a very civilized place in which to do it.
