On The Beach at Cedar Key

The annual gathering of small craft happens each year on the first weekend in May. It is perfectly located on the tip of a peninsula tucked up in the panhandle of the Gulf of Mexico.

- Bill Jacobs

The small community of Cedar Key is found at last—about the time you’ve given up—after a long drive down Route 24. The place is as spaced-out and hard to describe as its location. During the long approach, land has seemed to disappear as you cross several swamps, channels, causeways and canals…finally into a town with a mystifying tangle of streets, islands, docks, piers and launching ramps. Water trumps land here.

All a fitting home for an event that has no advertising, no rules, no contests, no activities, no entry fees, and no awards. I think it does have a name: “Cedar Key Small Boat Meet.” But if you have a boat or some manner of watercraft that fits on your car roof, in your trunk, trailer or truck bed, you are graciously welcome. It’s a sailing free-for-all.

Participants roll in one by one from Thursday on, looking for a coveted spot on the main beach in front of the Island Place Hotel. Old acquaintances are renewed, new faces appear, unloading and rigging begins, questions are asked and sometimes are answered. Owners bring watercraft that run the gamut from production boats, to traditional replicas, original designs, and prototypes made from an assortment of materials, propelled by all categories of rigs, pedals, paddles and oars.