On Feb 13, 7:20 pm, "Sir Thomas of Cannondale"
wrote:
My brother wasn't steering the boat too good.. I kept telling him,, stay on
course, do this do that.

I went below..

When I came up on deck he was gone.

I looked back and he was sitting in the dinghy tied to the boat, a beer in
hand.

"What are you doing" I yelled.

He just laid back and sipped on the brew.

I finally pulled him back to the now totally messed up, off course boat.

He got on board,, I got out of the way ,, and away we went.

Your problem is YOU. Get the F...k out of the way. Leave your wife alone.
If she messes up..

Good for her. Let her mess up, let her have fun..

Pick a day when an accidental jibe isn't going to be a big deal.

Let her have at it..

Soon,, she will be telling you ..

"Get back on course".

wrote in message

...

A nice day, 12 kts and maybe in the 50s. Sailing with wife, 21 yr old
daughter, 11 yr old daughter and another 11 yr old friend. Everybody
takes turns at the tiller. Unfortunately, my wife is simply unable to
steer. EVERYBODY else quickly grasps the idea of feeling the pressure
on the tiller and steering accordingly. She is unable to do so.
Within a minute of closing my eyes and leaning back against the cabin,
I hear the sails flogging and THE DAMNED BOAT IS TACKING. She is
looking puzzled pushing the tiller every which way. I put her back on
course and fortunately my daughter wants to steer. Later, going
downwind, my wife wants to steer again so I tell her, "Keep it on 330
degrees, I'm going below to make a PB sandwich". The two little girls
are blocking the companionway ladder so I ask my little daughter to
make me a sandwich. My wife begins to nag them to get out of the way
so I can do it and I say they can do it and she insists that the kids
clear the ladder and this goes on and on and on and on and.....Suddenly,
the damned boom crashes across. WE'VE FU*&%$G JIBBED! She is so busy
doing what she shouldn't be doing that she allows the boat to jibe
nearly knocking me into the water.
I have had it, she is a menace to everybody around her on the boat.
So, I want to discourage her from ever going sailing again before she
kills someone. Yes, I have tried everything I can think of but she is
simply incapable of steering. Unfortunately, she forgets almost
everything she learns from one sailing trip to another. I have lost
track of the number of times I have taught her how to tie various
knots. I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that she simply
should not be on a boat. Oddly, my daughters seem to do very well.
Yes, I am responsible for what happens on my boat and part of that
responsibility is keeping the inept from hurting others.

As dt is finding, canoeing is the ultimate test of a relationship. If
you can stand to have her steer while you are swinging from bank to
bank and going through spider webs from her steering without going
nuts, you'll prob do ok as a couple. Our first date was a canoe trip
where it started seriously storming and we did the rapids by
flashlight and it rained very hard for 48 hours. Relationship went
downhill from there and she even got seruiously hurt in a climbimg
accident on our 90 day camping honeymoon in CO. We might last through
sailing.