The Lighter Side of Boating

Duringour 6 month adventure on the boat we have learned a few very valuable lessons that we thought we would share. In no particular order:

• Every anchorage is like a new pair of shoes, if it's uncomfortable when you arrive, it will be much worse after 12 hours!
• Gravity is greater over water. Guaranteed, if you throw a line to tie off, if you have a screw in your hand, if you are carrying a fender, or are using a walkie talkie, it will end up being pulled down as an offering to Posidon! 
• The lesser known law of magnetism states that Rubber mooring balls will repel an aluminum boat hook when you are in a windy crowded mooring field laying on your belly reaching 7 feet down to the line!
• There is a positive correlation between how full your holding tank is to how badly you have to use it. Conversely, there is also a negative correlation in that when the holding tank is full you can be sure the alternative facilities are a great distance away!
• When you receive directions into a marina they are guaranteed to make sense only after you have arrived and tied off.
• The dingy will give you a lovely dry ride IF there is absolutely not a gust of wind, the water is dead flat, you are not carrying anything that needs to stay dry, you are both sitting on the floor with your head down and there is a full moon (preferably blue). Otherwise you will curse through the salty spray!
• If you can imagine something going wrong it is absolutely going to happen. Place a heavy oil filter in a cut down milk jug - it will fall over and spill it's contents. Pour water directly in your battery, it will glug all over the place. Forget to turn a valve off, it will be on the other side of a hot engine. The moment you decide to use both hands to carry something you will hit a wake or wave. You get the idea....
• When you most need to rely on the help of other boaters, or dock hands, you can be sure they are neither interested nor skilled.
• If you are in a rush, or on a schedule - you are out of luck! No matter how slow you want to go, there is always someone who will only go half that speed.
• The channel markers make perfect sence, once you have passed them by and backed off the sand bar you just ran up on.
• You have plenty of gas - right up until you don't.
• When you are walking for your errands, guaranteed, everything is "just" two miles away.
• If you see 1 mosquito on the back deck, 1000 of his closest friends are just about to crash the party.
• On the lighter side of of our relationship: Scott has learned that non critical items still require some attention and detail for Sue. Sue has learned that unless the boat is on fire or sinking, Scott's just not that inclined to provide it.

• Sue's perspective on navigation. First check the plan for the day through consultation with the Waterways Cruising Guide for destination and accommodation. Then check the Lewis charts for directions, waypoints and navigational hazards. Then set a cruising itinerary and input GPS waypoints. Lastly cross reference compass, autopilot and GPS in the event of multiple systems failures.
• Scott's perspective on navigation. "It's that way right?  Let's go!"

 

 

All good!