Wonders of Wood
I always enjoy Southern Boating and found September’s “35 Years” issue very interesting. I know Skip Sr. once owned a Grand Banks 50 named Press On Regardless. The ad on page 84 is a reminder of our Sunstone (below), a GB50 we have enjoyed for more than 30 years.
Grand Banks builds great boats, but the old all-wood GB50 is still hard to improve on. It is not fast, but its cruising and livability are tops!
Ted & Katy Valpey
Dover, New Hampshire
Stan, Come On Down!
Having been a subscriber for more than 12 years and still only an armchair boater, I congratulate Mr. Allen and his family and the staff (past and present) for bringing readers such a wonderful boating magazine. I am nearing retirement and looking forward to moving from Indiana to Florida soon and finally getting that first boat and being able to enjoy boating firsthand as your magazine has so eloquently described all these years. I have been to the Ft. Lauderdale and Miami boat shows many times but have never had the pleasure of meeting you. Hopefully I might get that opportunity at the next show. May Southern Boating continue at least another 35 years and you and your family/staff continue to have success.
Stan Hostetter
Fishers, Indiana
Southern Anchorages
Thirty five years ago we spent summers cruising the northeast. I remember being one of two boats in Hadley's Harbor. In the winter our boat was in the Exumas, where two weeks could go by before we saw another boat. I suppose the pleasures of yachting couldn't be kept secret, but luckily, there are still harbors in the Bahamas where one can find peace and quiet.
June Rosen
via e-mail
Press On
Like Clockwork
Your love affair with the Bahamas has been mutual, and speaking without any authority for the old heads at the Royal Nassau Sailing Club, we anticipate your passage through here to and from the Exumas with special pleasure. It might be said that we count on your migration right along with the dolphin and other specialties of the sea!
We have all grown right along with you, both in age and experiences a plenty, and we are all beneficiaries of your company and your magazine.
The Golden Years are great!
Tippy Lightbourn
Nassau, Bahamas
Sierra Club Weighs In
On Baker’s Bay
We are responding to the recent letters regarding the Baker’s Bay Club mega-development on Great Guana Cay in the Northern Bahamas.
The Sierra Club has been following the Baker’s Bay Club development since 2005. The developer asserts this development will set high environmental standards for developments in the Bahamas. This worthy goal, however, is contradicted by the sheer scale of the development planned for Guana Cay. The core issues are whether a mega-development of this size is environmentally and culturally appropriate for this slender, lightly populated island; and whether the rights of the affected communities to participate in the land use review and approval processes related to this development were respected. We support the efforts of the Save Guana Cay Reef Association to assert its legal rights related to participation in the approval processes required for this development, and their preference for a smaller scale development, which would not include a marina or golf course.
The developer has pledged to follow an Environmental Management Plan including numerous actions to prevent or mitigate the numerous environmental threats identified in the Environmental Impact Analysis, and a monitoring and reporting system to track and report on any adverse events. To our knowledge, however, no such reports have been made public. If the required monitoring is occurring, the reporting has not been shared with those most affected, the residents of Guana Cay.
Michele Perrault, Int’l. Vice President, Sierra Club
Honolulu, Hawaii
Dr. Judith Lang, Sierra Club Coral Working Group
Dave Raney, Sierra Club Coral Working Group
Sincere Thanks
I am honored to see my book, Los Capitanes, reviewed in Southern Boating. Thank you very, very much. Also, congratulations to you and your associates for issuing such a wonderful boating magazine. I wish you the best of luck and continued success for many years to come.
Joaquín E. Bacardí
San Juan, Puerto Rico