Don White wrote in news:5pDjf.132324$Ph4.4056575
@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca:

I used to hate it when we would take a new 'passenger' out for their
first (usually last) afternoon sail on the yacht I crewed on. They
always had to be back at the marina in a couple of hours for some other
pressing social engagement. Usually I wouldn't hear about this
rquirement until we were already underway....or I would have told our
skipper.....I'm sitting this one out. If I wanted to rush around, I'd
be
out on a stinkpot.



In last year's Gulfstreamer Race from Daytona Beach to Charleston, we all
got becalmed 90 miles S of Charleston after a great run all night in the
Gulf Stream. It went on for hours and the go-getters in the crew got all
antsy over just sitting there. After 6 hours of good rest and listening
to comments about having to go to work on Monday (this was Saturday),
Cap'n Geoffrey made the decision to drop out and we dieseled home. The
calm went on for a lot longer as I watched it on the net. Cap'n and I
would have been just as happy to finish the race as we would have
probably placed fairly good in the cruiser class as most all of them
dropped out, too. It's all part of sailboat racing. "Lionheart" isn't
any kind of racer, but we do have a lot of fun trying to get the big
elephant to go as fast as she can...(c;

Pity we didn't finish what we started....

I usually poll any guests on the harbor cruises, especially those I've
never met, casually mentioning that we might not be back by tomorrow in a
joke. If one is discovered while we're tied to the dock, I mention it to
the cap'n as part of the planning. Once in a while someone will bow out
and everyone aboard thanks them, profusely, for not spoiling the cruise-
to-nowhere....