This isn’t my idea but I wish that it was. On my most recent trip to Blooming Point beach there I was, like some kind of hermit crab, lugging my house on my back. The combined bulk of a backpack, beach chair and beach umbrella made a substantial and uncomfortable load when trekking down a sandy beach and I was considering just how far I should walk before setting up camp. When one is oppressed by the weight and bulk of a load and the heat of the sun such decisions are often made sooner than is optimal. I decided the time and place had arrived, pitched my kit on the ground and set up my beach camp.
No sooner was I done than a brighter light came along toting everything I’d had, plus a small cooler. (You get 10 bonus points for bringing a cooler to the beach, 50 points if it contains beer.) There he was, walking along effortlessly, towing his gear behind him on an old golf cart. Both this and his better-than-average tan told me that this person was a beach pro. Anyway, he passed on up the beach and set up camp some way farther on. I lounged in my beach chair, worked on my tan and considered how to source a golf cart and what I might do to convert it for beach use.
Maybe such use of golf carts is common elsewhere, but I’ve been on several different nudist beaches in more than a few countries and this was the first time I had seen it. And I hadn’t seen them in use amongst the Clothen either . . . maybe I just haven’t been paying attention. But I have seen beach goers’ stuff strapped onto bicycles and loaded aboard baby buggies and Vermont garden carts. Once, I saw some guy struggling along the shoreline at Oka-pulco with a wheelbarrow overloaded with two large coolers – the coolers were full of Labatt’s 50 so, les 100 points de bonus. But c’mon man! I didn’t want the sort of cart I’d have to bring by truck. I wanted something I could fold away easily and stow in the trunk of my car.
On return to Textilia I cast about for sources. Golf shops were out of the question because you just don’t buy a higher-end item and then start cutting it. So I checked the local do-all store and found that I could have a brand new cart for the small sum of $50 or so. That isn’t much money but the item on offer had wire-spoke wheels that I didn’t think would last all that well with the tide splashing on them. As well, it had skinny tires that I didn’t think would float over the sand as easily as I’d like. After a weekend of doing yard sale walk-bys around the neighbourhood I discarded them as a source, then went online with Kijiji and soon had a few to choose from. A short drive and $25 later I had what I wanted, a golf cart with plastic wheels and wide tires, barely used, which, considering the pun, was entirely appropriate.
So there is it, no major modifications necessary. I just removed the score card tablet, rearranged the existing webbing straps, added a few more and voila, a labour-saving device anyone can appreciate. The test drive at Kellys was a complete success but suggested additional modifications. Next, I have to lengthen the handle by several inches and alter the footplate to accommodate a small cooler.
Great idea!
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