I have tried for many years to discover the perfect weekend, and now I have found it. This weekend’s Waterfest in Beaufort, South Carolina combined all of my very favorite things—drinking, boats and summer sunshine—with some sleeper favorites like an underwater camera, a belly flop contest, a sandbar and a karaoke machine.
Before we left Atlanta on Thursday evening, my drinking partner in crime and I had polished off a bottle of vino, kicking off the weekend with the proper respect that it deserved. By the time we hit Macon, we had finished our roadies and decided to pick up a case for the remaining three hour drive. Not to be outdone, our driver slammed back an entire bottle of Patron starting when we hit our destination street. We wouldn’t see him until the next afternoon.
We woke up on Friday morning scattered throughout our friend’s house, errr mansion, where we were staying. With only 15 minutes remaining until Chik-fil-A stopped serving biscuits, we jumped in the car wearing only pajamas, teeth unbrushed. As if they knew we were coming, they only had 11 biscuits remaining, strangely the exact number we needed for our hungover friends.
We spent the day drinking college spring break style at the pool, and when evening rolled around with more and more eager Waterfesters arriving, we early arrivers were in peak drinking form. The night’s details are hazy but I do remember beer pong, eating low country boil, lounging in the hot tub and waking up on a boat.
Then the day that changed my life arrived Saturday morning as I walked down the dock and back to the house. On the lawn I found the bottle of champagne that my friends had cleverly hidden inside the fridge for morning mimosas. The OJ wasn’t as lucky, as it had all been consumed the previous night. Undeterred, I chugged warm champagne until I thought I could stomach a beer. Obviously common sense had already been lost or else warm bubbly would have sounded far worse than a cold beer, even with my compounded two night level of hangover.
To really appreciate Waterfest, you have to visualize it. We pulled up on two boats with about thirty already intoxicated friends and all around us were hundreds of boats filled with similarly sloshed occupants. Some boats were parked along a huge sandbar, and Waterfesters were swimming onto it, careful not to spill their own beers. On our boat, two guys broadcasted a faux live radio show from a karaoke machine and gleefully declared that it was the water’s birthday and we had all assembled to celebrate.
Despite a few injuries, some that easily should have required stitches had anyone been in the condition to go to the hospital, the day was a bang up success. We drank, swam, chugged, danced, shotgunned and generally partied the day away. By the time we headed back home, I was in complete awe that one day could be that great.
So the bar has been set on how great a weekend can truly be. I suspect it will be hard to beat, but I intend to spend the entire year trying until Waterfest 2009 gets its chance to outshine this year’s celebration.
JLH
