Page 9 - Discover Summer 2023

Never Too Late

To Make SML Memories...

By Sue Baltes

So many memories come to mind with love of sailing and my desire to stay on land:
every visit to Smith Mountain Lake. For us Pelican Point Yacht Club.
it began with our first visit, on a cloudy fall
It is nestled on a peninsula in Union Hall.
weekend over thirty years ago, to look at a sail
He got to sail on beautiful S.M.L., and when
boat at Crazy Horse Marina. That boat was a
I went with him we stayed on the dock,
27 foot Hunter named Wind Dancer. It was
connected to shore power. I got to enjoy the
love at first sight for my husband, both the
solitude on the boat, the woods, the wild life
lake and that boat. So we went out with the
such as deer and wild turkeys,
broker, even though there
ducks and squirrels, and my
were white caps on the
favorite – cats. Marcie, the
lake, and we heeled over
current owner, is a cat lover
quite a bit. I was lying
and has taken in several rescue
below saying Hail Mary’s,
adoptions over the years.
and I was sure that this

would be my last time to When we first started calling
set foot on a sailboat. Smith Mountain Lake our
happy place, Jenny and Ralph
As we finally got back
Zahn were the owners, and
to the dock and I was
Marcie, their daughter, was a
helped off the boat, my
glamorous airline hostess. We
husband was sure that
saw Marcie only occasionally,
he would love that boat,
but I always loved talking with Jenny and
while I said, “Not in my life time”. So during
Ralph about the lake and their history at
the long ride back home to Asheboro, NC he
Pelican Point. What had been a campground
was listing all the reasons why we needed a
had been transformed with the addition of
sailboat; I on the other hand was listing all the
docks A, B, C, and D for over a hundred boat
reasons why we didn’t. Two weeks later, we
slips.
owned that sailboat. I had a happy husband,
and next we found the perfect solution for his “A” dock is nestled closest to shore, so of

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