‘Sailboat bum’ rigs up
SUN PHOTO BY GREG MARTIN
Logan Boucher, left, and Blake Van Tassel, who learned to sail through the Charlotte Harbor Community Sailing Center, try out a 16-foot Hobi Getaway during a Summer Sailstice event Saturday in Punta Gorda.
SUN PHOTO BY GREG MARTIN
Jeff Drechsler, director of Tiki Water Sports, center, helps raise a boat's mast as Logan Boucher and John Lange assist Saturday at Punta Gorda's Gilchrist Park.
SUN FILE PHOTO BY GREG MARTIN
Logan Boucher, left, and Blake Van Tassel, who learned to sail through the Charlotte Harbor Community Sailing Center, sail a 16-foot Hobi Getaway this past June in Punta Gorda. Such sailing programs should be the focus of Punta Gorda's Bayfront Center, say city and community officials.
PUNTA GORDA — Originally from Port Huron, Mich., Jeff Drechsler, 49, never set foot on a sailboat until, at age 32, his boss at a scooter-rental business in Key West asked him to work a few extra hours renting Hobie 16 catamarans.
As a result, he tried the sport, and wound up making sailing a profession for the past 17 years, including the past four that he and his wife, Lin, have lived in Punta Gorda.
