A Backstory Post

Getting to Know Each Other

Spring 2013

For the first few months they owned me, Andrew and Leslie would come to visit every other weekend. With each visit, all anyone wanted to do was go sailing! This suited me perfectly, but each time we want to go sailing, we have to cross the hurdle of escaping the slip. Leslie is like Goldilocks: “we can’t go out today its too windy, too much current, wind from the East, no, wind from the South, there is an extra boat parked in the thoroughfare today.” I think she is just shaken from her first exit attempt. Andrew takes over steering responsibility. He decides he prefers to back out in reverse all the way down the thoroughfare and out to the bay. This, in my opinion, is not the best plan. With my big keel and an effect sailors call “Prop Walk,” I sometimes swerve around in an unpredictable manner while in reverse. But, I’m not going to give my Captain back-talk, especially if he is going to take me out sailing. So, out in reverse we go, swerving and wobbling the 750 meters out to the main channel. Sometimes, one of my boat neighbors gets nervous, their owner popping out on deck with boat hook in hand, ready to fend off. I laugh. With 32,000 gorgeous pounds of curvaceous stern, you cannot stop me with a boat hook! I will eat that boat hook for lunch. At least give me a squishy bumper to land upon. Not to worry, though, we don’t crash into anyone. (Yet).

Andrew and Leslie bake their first loaf of banana bread in my oven the next Friday evening. I’m not the biggest fan of bananas (sailboats strictly aren’t), but I admit that it makes my whole cabin smell sweet and delicious. I suppose if the bananas are converted into bread, they aren’t bad luck. Though, when we go out for a sail the next morning, Andrew and Leslie share their banana bread with a bird who lands on my solar panel - without permission!

“He’s just going to poop that back out, straight onto my deck!” I tell them. But do they listen? They don’t listen. I’d count this as a mark against them, but they took me out sailing so I think marks for and against at this point will have to balance out.

When friends start visiting, Andrew and Leslie really start getting a feel for what cruising might be like. We spend one day sailing, and the next they explore the San Diego area. I love hearing reports back about craft beers, excellent views, and nice beaches. However, we are still backing all the way out of the thoroughfare - with company aboard - and that is just embarrassing.

We even anchor out one weekend, along with friends Coffee and Brian (who turn out to be some of the best Boat-Friends a sailboat could ask for. Always up for some repair projects!) This is where Andrew decides to inflate my old deflatable and give it a test paddle. Yep, Life Before Grin.

Andrew’s mom comes for a visit, and Andrew and Leslie explore San Diego’s lighthouse.

Some weekends, when friends aren’t along for the fun, they start giving me boat spa treatments. They climb up to the top of my mast and inspect what’s going on up there. We seem to be getting a bit of rust seeping downward. The view is pretty good from my top! Another weekend, they decide to tear apart all my cockpit winches to clean and grease them. This makes me very nervous: “Are you sure you guys know what you are doing?” I guess there is no time like the present to test their mechanical skills. But, I shouldn’t have been worried. Everything went like clockwork, and once my winches were back together, they spin with a soft, pleasant click-click-click-click-click sound. Ahh, that feels so good.

I’m having so much fun with my new sailors that I keep forgetting to let them know about a nasty little secret I’m harboring. As I told you in one of my posts about the purchase process, there were a couple things I didn’t really want anyone to notice. Now that I know Andrew and Leslie better, I know it probably never would have mattered anyway. But, at the time, I admit, I purposely hid one (somewhat) major problem that could have made them less excited to buy me, and certainly less excited to take me out sailing all these fun sails we’ve been doing. I meant to tell them, I really did. Each Friday when they arrive, I’m so happy to see them that I forget all about it. Then, every Sunday night when they leave, I get sad and lonely, bored, and a bit jealous. I start thinking: “What do they do all that time they are away from me? I think they are having parties.”

“I know I smelled another sailboat on them when they arrived last time…”

Some weekends they don’t come to visit, and I get impatient. “Why aren’t they coming back?” I ruminate. “They must have some other hobby they haven’t told me about…”

I get sour and annoyed. Then, I start picking at that problem I’ve been keeping secret. “Pick, pick, pick” I can’t help it. “Pick-pick-pick… I should probably let them know about this problem before it is too late.” I think “Pick-pick-pick.”

Then the next Friday they arrive….I forget all about it. But I know, I’m running out of time.