Under the Boardwalk, Down by the C
Chapter 1 of 4
Please go HERE for a beginner�s primer on sailing terms.
Jonas Salk, where were you when I needed you? Several years ago I bought a �money pit�. Why? Because of Dave Miller. Before moving to Baltimore, Dave spent two years living in Atlanta, contracted a highly communicable disease for which there is no known cure, and had an 8-5 job.
It took 15 minutes of crewing on his Hobie 16 to be bitten by the same bug. The infection can�t be cured, only treated with ample doses of wind, water, sun and sand. The most effective prescription was to stop whatever I was doing and IMMEDIATELY go sailing as soon as I felt the symptoms coming on. I worked from home, he didn�t, and it was his boat. So I went shopping.
Actually, buying the boat was easy. Let�s talk about the HARD STUFF. Like having to learn a new language. High school Spanish was a snap compared to this. I had to learn things like starboard means right and port means my other right, but only when my face was looking at the front (I mean aft or is that bow) part of the boat. A rope is not a rope, it�s bedclothes, or deadclothes, unless it pulls up a sail, then it�s something else.
Then there was the little problem of getting my brand spanking new Hobie 16 home. Just run down to the local hitch place sez everyone, about $150 a hitch. Right. I had a Honda Civic, which meant only one place had it, and didn�t have time, and the place that had time didn�t have it, and it didn�t even come with a ball. Finally found one, $275, and the lights were extra.
OK. Got the boat, the trailer, all the basic parts, figured out how to rig it, got great wind, the water, the sun. NO CREW. No big deal you experienced �A� class racers said. You forget, I�d never touched a tiller (I was crew in a �C� class, remember?) and I weigh under 110 pounds. Can�t step the mast, can�t right the boat when (you notice I did not say if) it capsizes from high winds or idiot tacking, and how do I trap out to keep the hulls down operating two sails and a tiller when I�ve only got two hands?
I�m a never say never kinda girl. When spring came, I decided to lick the problem by sailing right into the wind. Rather than stand on an Annapolis dock with a sign around my neck, I placed an ad in the local paper.
Is Nicim nice? Will she find the man of her watery dreams? Are these ads legal? Stay tuned for the next episode of �As the Hulls Fly� an irreverent look at Catting around.
Episode 4 - I Can C Clearly Now (final)
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