Well.... DUH!


CM

"Scott Vernon" wrote in message
...
| ahhhh, so the trick is to get them drunk enough that they enjoy it.
|
| Scotty
|
| "Capt. Mooron" wrote in message
| ...
| I had a chance yesterday to take a friend who is an ardent power boater
| for
| a sail after he inquired about it. He has never been aboard a sailboat
| before and knows nothing about them at all. He has always had a
powerboat.
| He wanted to get a grasp on the abilities of "rag baggers" so he could
| better prepare himself for their "antics as he called it. I arranged to
| take
| him out for a sail yesterday morning.
|
| His concerns before going.... " will we be out there all day.. I only
have
| 4
| hours to spare".... "how much work is involved to get those things
| moving?".... "will we be able to get back if the wind is wrong?"....
| sheesh!
|
| We got out to Overproof at the mooring and I went through the basic
names
| for the "ropes" explaining it was a way to avoid confusion and while we
| talked over a coffee I unbagged and hanked on the foresail and prepped
the
| main. We retired to the cockpit and had another cuppa joe with a shot of
| rum
| to calm his nerves.... I then proceeded to raise sails despite his pleas
| to
| start the engine. All sheets slack.... I hoisted anchor and stowed the
| chain/rode in the locker with my buddy nervously looking around. I
walked
| back to the cockpit and adjusted the sheets.. caught the wind and we
were
| off on a nice beam reach.... " so what do we do now?" was his
question....
| I
| said relax and turned on some tunes. I explained we were moving 5 tons
of
| boat along at a nice speed with no fuel consumption. He had believed
that
| sailboats always have an engine running despite the sails being up.
|
| He was amazed at where we could go and how easy and relaxing it was. I
| explained the attitude of enjoying the trip rather than the destination.
| We
| sailed around some islands and I let him have the tiller. He said he
could
| "feel" the boat and it was evident in his eyes he was awe struck. We
| covered
| capturing wind and sail deployment and he felt comfortable enough to
walk
| around the boat under sail within a half hour.
|
| I switched to chilled beer for the downwind run back to the mooring to
| make
| him feel at home. He looked at me and said.."why I bet even the ole'
lady
| would get off on this". We sailed nicely to my anchoring area and
dropped
| the hook under sail. He helped me bag and pack the sails and we sat back
| in
| the cockpit for another beer.
|
| His new found knowledge when he left... "this is a really nice way to
| enjoy
| the water"... "It's so quiet"... "you can really go anywhere with one of
| these"..... " we never even started the engine"..... " we used no
fuel
| at
| all and went out for a long run" ..... " I've got a better idea of what
| you
| guys are doing out there now".... "I'd like to try this again, do you
mind
| if I bring the wife?".....
|
| So there you have it..... I got a call that he is going out on a Hans
| Christian 38 tomorrow and was asking about a sailboat that was for sale.
I
| told him to stick with full keelers since fin keelers are so lame!
|
| CM
|
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