Page 9 - Discover Summer 2023
P. 9

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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