To many of us, setting sail to chase the horizon for a few years may seem like an unattainable pipe dream. For the O’Grady family, it’s one of their most treasured memories.
Will and Pamela O’Grady and their 13-year-old daughter Sara set off on a grand adventure on the seas on what’s known as “America’s Great Loop.” The O’Grady family covered the distance in stages over three years time, returning back home for seasonal breaks. All in all, they spent six months traveling, accomplishing what many of us yearn to do.
It was a fine day when they set off from their Hilton Head Island home in early June 2004. From Spanish Wells, they headed up the Intracoastal Waterway to the Chesapeake, up New York’s Hudson River to the Erie Canal and across Lake Ontario to Canada.
Many people who live in the Lowcountry agree that the single greatest attraction here is the water. Some are content just to look at it – they relish the simple pleasure of knowing that it’s there. Others, however, enjoy getting out on the rivers, sea, sounds and tidal creeks that make this place what it is. If you belong to this second category, summer is here and there are plenty of boating adventures to be had.
It’s hard to imagine a more exotic trade than the sail maker. He designs and builds a defining archetype, the very thing that gives the sailboat its name. The sailing vessel itself extends back in time through the millennia, carrying fishermen, cargo, explorers and settlers throughout the known and unknown parts of the world. And the vast majority of these ships depended upon their sails and the wind to get them to where they were going.
It’s a rite of passage that occurs each spring and fall, those times of transition in weather highlighted by the slow, stately approach of yachts to the waters of Hilton Head Island.
Charles Getsinger, a licensed charter boat captain and owner of the Hilton Head Boating Center, can’t remember the first fish he ever caught, or even the biggest. But that’s because as an avid fisherman and boater, he’s caught many big fish over the years, including sharks, blue marlin, cobia, and several other Lowcountry favorites.
