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There
were four of us playing poker that night, sprawled around the dinette
table of Ocean Yachts’ new four-stateroom three-head cruiser, the
65 Odyssey. In response to a question about making flight connections
the following day, Ocean’s company captain Gene Hawn made a rather
stunning pronouncement.
“She’ll
do twenty-five knots goin’ back to Lauderdale in the mornin’,”
he said, “Maybe twenty-six. Be a quick trip.”
I say
“stunning” for two reasons. First, at that moment, the 65
was parked in a slip at Cat Cay Marina on Cat Cay, a little Bahamian island
some 55 NM southeast of Ft. Lauderdale. And second, a big-bad norther
had been howling for three solid days. The Gulf Stream, an often turbulent
oceanic river separating the Bahamas from Florida, was sure to be rolling
with monstrous sea conditions in the morning. Even if wind and waves were
to abate as predicted, we’d still be confronting 16-foot swells
at least, coming out of the northeast, an orientation that would put them
squarely on our starboard beam.
Acknowledging
Hawn’s claim with a poker-faced glance, Ocean Yachts’ sales
and marketing VP Doug Finney studied his hand for a moment, then said
to PMY publisher Dave Branch, who was dealing, “Gimme two cards,
Dave.”
Branch
obliged, then rejoined speculatively, “Should be quite a ride tomorrow.”
“Indeedy,”
I noted, enjoying a sporty surge of excitement not wholly born of poker.
“I’ll take a couple o’ cards myself, Dave…workin’
on a full-house over here.”
We all
needed a little excitement at this point. We’d been stuck at Cat
Cay for three days, waiting on the sunshine that is part and parcel of
any well-photographed Bahamas cruising story. Only trouble was, the sunshine
never showed up. Instead, the rain and 35-knot winds we’d experienced
upon our arrival had continued with no letup. Now, with deadlines pressing
and photo-friendly weather still days off, the consensus was to simply
bag the trip and go home.
A gloomy
business? Sure, but there was one redeeming aspect, at least from my point
of view: With the 65 hunkered dockside for such an extended period, I’d
had loads of time to not only examine but actually live aboard the boat,
developing an appreciation for many of its virtues in the process.
Creature
comfort topped the list. Having spent innumerable hours confined to the
65’s accommodation spaces, weathered-in by rain, wind, and frosty
temperatures, with little to do but read, watch TV, listen to music, play
cards, and shoot the breeze with three other wild-and-crazy guys, I can
state unequivocally that this boat is one of the most hospitable, easy-going
motoryachts I’ve ever tossed a sea bag aboard.
Admittedly,
watching Cliffhanger four times on the Sony in the saloon was a
little much, despite the thrills of a hi-def plasma screen and bass tones
from the integrated Bose sound system gutsy enough to make your very lungs
vibrate. But with the only other DVDs onboard being Barbara Streisand
Live In Concert and A Decade of Song & Video by Celine
Dion, was there a sensible alternative? And besides, all hands soon discovered
how exquisitely easy it was to do a mid-movie doze-off thanks to the stretch-out
expansiveness of the giant L-shape sofa, the plush comfort of the two
matching designer chairs, and the soporific effects of the thick, surprisingly
soft carpet.
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Ocean 65 continued > Page 1, 2,
3, 4, 5,
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