The following stories were told to me by Ken Fickett and some of the previous owners. But, of course, I in no way can know the truth.
The original name of GH37-11 was ‘PostUPS,’ Post United Parcel Service because the owner had retired from UPS. ‘PostUPS’ was initially equipped with Tides shaft seals. During one outing on Tampa Bay, one of the seals seized up, causing the rubber boot to tear apart, allowing water into the engine room. The water made the bilge alarm sound. Panicked, the owner called the closest marina with a travel lift and arranged to have the boat hauled on arrival. With the alarm going off and bilge pumps running, ‘PostUPS’ was driven directly into the lift, and in the rush, the rear strap was not placed far enough aft. ‘PostUPS’ pitched her bow into the sky and slowly slid back into the water upon starting the lift. Panic ensued as she had no one aboard, as ‘PostUPS’ was drifting back towards the bay. Soon enough, she had been corralled, lifted, and the bilge pumps had her empty. Upon learning of the seal failure and wanting to avoid bad publicity, Tides immediately sent a crew to complete all repairs.
Two days after the seal failure, the owner suffered a massive heart attack and died. As the story goes, he was in the middle of a divorce and had told his girlfriend that ‘PostUPS’ would be hers, so she got the boat and moved it to a different marina closer to her residence. The wife, meanwhile, finds the boat was gone and, for some reason, believes that Ken Fickett has taken it. However, the boat is located in due time. Since the divorce papers had not been signed, ‘PostUPS’ ended up with the owner’s wife.
During this time, Ken receives a phone call from the wife’s attorney telling him she is suing him for the wrongful death of her husband due to the stress he suffered from the torn shaft seal. In his blunt way, Ken told the attorney to get in line behind everyone else suing him. Nothing ever became of the suit.
Enter owner number two, the original owner’s wife, now owns the boat, which she renamed to ‘Miss Natalie’ after the estate settled. It is during this time the boat is painted to the current colors. Originally the hull below the waterline was blue. ‘Miss Natalie’s hull was painted with two shades of green that she is today, and the fiberglass, the pilothouse, and deck in white. She later sold the boat.
Owner number three changed the name to ‘Salty Dawg 2’. During his ownership, he upgraded all the electronics except the autopilot. I believe he kept the boat at Green Cove Springs.
Owners number four were both in the Navy and lived aboard the boat in Norfolk, VA. They named the boat ‘AWOL Again.’
Owners number five bought the boat in Norfolk and brought her back to the Tampa Bay area. They spent months upgrading the newly named ‘Lollipop’ added a camera and boat monitoring system. The dingy was reworked with new tubes and a new cover, and the forty-horsepower Yamaha serviced.
The owners bought ‘Lollipop’ to do the Great Loop, and as the time approached to cast off lines, Covid-19 hit. So they postponed the trip to see how Covid-19 progressed. While waiting on Covid-19 to clear up, they realized life had changed direction as time had passed, so they put Lollipop up for sale.
On May 19th, 2021, ‘Lollipop’ was put up for sale, and the next day, Deb and I were in the car headed to see her. Unfortunately, the broker who had her listed was unavailable to show her. Still, the owners agreed to show us ‘Lollipop.’ After talking to the owners and roaming around ‘Lollipop,’ Deb and I left and called a buyers broker to make an offer to buy ‘Lollipop.’ On June 18th, 2021, we closed, and ‘Lollipop’ was ours, and our Great Loop adventure begins.
