The least fun I've ever had on a boat
Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 8:50 pm
Last night was the start of the Spring racing series. These aren't folks that I have much occasion to see over the winter, so it was nice to see the gang on the dock and catch up a bit before casting off.
We had one heavy boat, considering that it was the 1st race.
The skipper
Skipper's wife/pitcrew
The Navigator
The Ace Bowman (no kidding, heavily recruited)
and myself.
A few new bodies present...
The navigator's girlfriend and her (roughly guessing) 6 year old son Will.
The navigator's cousin, who clearly hadn't spent much time under sail.
The Sailmaker who had recut a couple of sails over the winter.
8-1/2 people aboard a 30 footer.
As the Ace Bowman and I caught up on things while rigging the boat, we had a chuckle as we overheard The Sailmaker's attempt to entertain the boy Will with "pirate stories". A little advice; when telling stories to a 6 year old, avoid use of words like "privateer" and "conquest".
The boat had only been launched days earlier, so it took a while to get things sorted, and the sorting was still in progress as we realized that the flag was in the RC signalman's hand for the 5minute warning. Stow the beer! kill the motor and get some sail in the air!!!!!
So the start was a bit of a chaotic blur, but that's to be expected, I thought. 5 minutes into the leg it occurred to me that The Sailmaker had been barking a steady stream of orders all the while, and was showing no signs of shutting up anytime soon. Appallingly rude and abrasive (even to the 6yr old), but the Skipper wasn't shutting him up so I imagined that perhaps he was being paid to come along as a "coach" for this race.
A mile or so later, it occurred to me that this couldn't possibly be the case, as The Sailmaker wasn't being at all instructive, but simply downright abusive. A mile or so after that, I was almost amused to simply sit back and watch him scramble all over the boat, trying to do everyone's job because they clearly weren't doing it properly. If it weren't for my smoldering rage, it would have been quite the comic show.
As we neared the finish, Skipper's Wife quietly assured me that The Sailmaker (who, by the way, hadn't spent 30 seconds checking the set of the recut sails) would not be onboard for the rest of the summer. While I appreciated the sentiment, it was far too little and too late. No amount of beer could rinse the incredibly bitter taste from my mouth.
As soon as we crossed the line I made my way to the pointy end, wishing the boat were 30' longer. I was soon joined by the Bowman and Navigator, and between the three of us we were amazed to realize that we had no recollection of our surroundings during the race. None of us could recall sea state, wind shifts, roundings, the performance of any competitors, or really anything beyond our compulsion to send The Sailmaker swimming.
The sunset was nice on the ride home, but really that was the least fun I've ever had on a boat.
We had one heavy boat, considering that it was the 1st race.
The skipper
Skipper's wife/pitcrew
The Navigator
The Ace Bowman (no kidding, heavily recruited)
and myself.
A few new bodies present...
The navigator's girlfriend and her (roughly guessing) 6 year old son Will.
The navigator's cousin, who clearly hadn't spent much time under sail.
The Sailmaker who had recut a couple of sails over the winter.
8-1/2 people aboard a 30 footer.
As the Ace Bowman and I caught up on things while rigging the boat, we had a chuckle as we overheard The Sailmaker's attempt to entertain the boy Will with "pirate stories". A little advice; when telling stories to a 6 year old, avoid use of words like "privateer" and "conquest".
The boat had only been launched days earlier, so it took a while to get things sorted, and the sorting was still in progress as we realized that the flag was in the RC signalman's hand for the 5minute warning. Stow the beer! kill the motor and get some sail in the air!!!!!
So the start was a bit of a chaotic blur, but that's to be expected, I thought. 5 minutes into the leg it occurred to me that The Sailmaker had been barking a steady stream of orders all the while, and was showing no signs of shutting up anytime soon. Appallingly rude and abrasive (even to the 6yr old), but the Skipper wasn't shutting him up so I imagined that perhaps he was being paid to come along as a "coach" for this race.
A mile or so later, it occurred to me that this couldn't possibly be the case, as The Sailmaker wasn't being at all instructive, but simply downright abusive. A mile or so after that, I was almost amused to simply sit back and watch him scramble all over the boat, trying to do everyone's job because they clearly weren't doing it properly. If it weren't for my smoldering rage, it would have been quite the comic show.
As we neared the finish, Skipper's Wife quietly assured me that The Sailmaker (who, by the way, hadn't spent 30 seconds checking the set of the recut sails) would not be onboard for the rest of the summer. While I appreciated the sentiment, it was far too little and too late. No amount of beer could rinse the incredibly bitter taste from my mouth.
As soon as we crossed the line I made my way to the pointy end, wishing the boat were 30' longer. I was soon joined by the Bowman and Navigator, and between the three of us we were amazed to realize that we had no recollection of our surroundings during the race. None of us could recall sea state, wind shifts, roundings, the performance of any competitors, or really anything beyond our compulsion to send The Sailmaker swimming.
The sunset was nice on the ride home, but really that was the least fun I've ever had on a boat.