Sailing Fun



One of the yachts, I sailed aboard often in the Caribbean.
It belongs to my dear friend, a fabulous musician.
We sailed with 3 electronic pianos, dozens of harps plus one crazy dog.

 I spent many happy years sailing around, messing about on boats.  I often say it was the time of my life!  I love every minute of what I am doing now, but nothing beats being on a sailboat in the Caribbean sunshine. 

For those of you that would like to learn boating terms, in case you yourself end up messing about in sailboats, in some far flung ports, here's a starter course for you. Free of charge. (Your lucky day!)

I worked on charter yachts as well as ran amok on private boats, plus owned my own modest sailboat, the Sea Rose, which I loved dearly. Here are the questions I often had to answer from greenhorns (newbies).
Dear Miss Mermaid answers Sailing questions:

What is a cockpit? (a place to drink)

What is a galley? (a place to make drinks)

What is a galley slave? (the bartender)

What is an ice box? (that thing with lukewarm beers in it)

What is a head? ( a place to deposit drinks when finished)
What is a stateroom? (that teeny closet like space with some foam padding to lay on after too many drinks)

How do you tell port from starboard? (Port is that red stuff in a bottle, starboard is the right side of the boat, if you are facing forward)

What is a boom? (that horizontal pole that slaps you in the head and goes BOOM!)
What is a dinghy? (that little boat behind the big boat, we've trained it to follow us around)

How do you start an outboard? (pull the cord, while ripping out shoulder and muttering curses)

What are the oars for? (so you can oar around at night)
Should we leave the sails up while on a mooring or anchored? (only if you have very good insurance)

Will one anchor be sufficient at night? (only if you have really good insurance)

Should we use two anchors at night? (yes, if you plan to sleep and/or don't have insurance)
What is a hanging locker? (that teensy slender cabinet with two coat hangers for you to store two weeks of clothes in)

What is a boat shower? (about a half gallon)

How do you tell private boats from charter boats? (private boats have too much junk on board, charter boats have too many people on on board)
How do you tell tourists from locals? (the tourists dress funny, the locals talk funny)
How do you tell a tourist from a traveler? ( a traveler brings one  small backpack and uses everything, a tourist brings over half his belongings from his beloved home, in large heavy assorted suitcases and bags, then uses one tenth  of it during their visit)
Do the wind and sails tip the boat? (Yes, but only you can tip the crew.)

I hope you feel substantially enlightened now, ready to go messing about in boats.

More on this later. ;)
 

Ahoy!
Dear Miss Mermaid
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