Keg of Beer St. Augustine-Dudley Doolittle

 

Keg of Beer in St. Augustine, Florida: The third short story in the series Doings of Dudley Doolittle.

A fictitious name will be used in most of the stories. It is there to protect the identity of the guilty.

These true stories are over half a century old or more.

We met this outlandish, outrageous one of a kind individual upon arriving in St. Augustine, Florida, December 1972, when we anchored our home built and designed sailboat Dursmirg our first night in town. We invited Dudley and his partner to visit our boat and have a beer. They arrived by dinghy and our friendship began over a sociable tap beer. We kept a 16 gallon keg of beer in our bilge with a tap in the galley next to the water tap that was installed before we launched the boat. It had a CO2 cylinder with regulator to keep it fresh and pressurized. All across the Great Lakes the lake water kept it cool. In Florida we had escaped the frigid latitudes that kept our bilge temperature refrigerator fresh.

The first thing that Dudley said was; “the beer is warm.” Before the evening was over there were 12 dinghies tethered behind our boat to partake in our hospitality. As I have said before people that are free with their drinks have lots of fair weather friends.

I noticed that Dudley who had remarked about the “warm beer” didn’t leave until the last drop of beer came out of the tap.

A brief look at what brought Dudley to the anchored out life: He was born in North Florida in what was then jokingly called St. Augustine, Georgia. Dudley was conscripted into the military during WW ll. After surviving the war Dudley returned to North Florida, got married, had three children, and a happy home life. Tragedy struck. His young wife, age 38, died of cancer and Dudley couldn’t cope. He dropped out, hit the road and wound up in California when the pot smoking free loving anti-Vietnam protesters were experimenting with high times mind altering substances.

Long story short:

Dudley returned to St. Augustine and purchased a 42 foot Nova Scotia sailing schooner for $300 dollars. His bargain boat had a significant problem, it was on the bottom. The number one rule of boating is the water is supposed to be on the outside.

Omitting the details, he resurrected the vessel, cleaned it up, and moved aboard. His partner Linda got a shop manual for the engine and miraculously got it running...a challenge for a seasoned mechanic.

Their new anchored out home turned out to be a bargain with some determined toil that opened up a totally new world of adventuresome if not slapstick semi-calamitous adventures.

Dudley's brother had this to say; “Dudley tries to piss in four corners at the same time, hell, he ought to know that I am the only one that can do that.”

In summation:

Dudley was a real character, and a chip off the old block!

When his mother was ninety years old she went off all her medications, called the family together for a mock funeral that was a party and an all you can eat extravaganza.  She announced to all:  This party is my funeral, when I die you don't have to show up!

Dudley used to say "being crazy kept me from going insane."

It is too much of a story to tell it all here now but this audacious tale with highlights and photos can be enjoyed in the book, Sailing to St. Augustine, available in paper or digital.

My preference is the digital book which is not only cheaper but delivered into your hands instantaneously anywhere in the world to your computer or reading device, and is much easier to read with its adjustable font size plus brightness, contrast, built in dictionary and more. So enjoy this new traveling companion.

Happy trails to you. John M. Grimsrud

John's author's page on Amazon