Interesting reading, Joe. I can see why it was published in SAIL magazine.
It has all the elements that magazines want these days - one potential disaster
after another . . . I certainly hope you have progressed well beyond that stage.

Here is my story. Such a story would never get published in a magazine because
it has none of the ineptitude displayed in yours.


Cutting the Mustard
A true story by
Capt. Neal

I have lived aboard my blue water cruising yacht for nigh on fifteen
years now. I named her "Cut the Mustard" instead of "Cuts the Mustard"
out of a desire that she inspire me to do the job right on an ongoing basis
and not because as a vessel she is competent. Her very name serves as
a reminder to never stop being vigilant.

I purchased her in Nashville, Tennessee, fitted her out for living aboard
and blue water cruising, had her hauled overland from Percy Priest
Lake to Old Hickory Lake on the Cumberland River where I commenced my
journey to the sea via the Cumberland River to the Ohio River to the Tennessee
River and the Tombigbee waterway on down to Mobile Bay and the Gulf
of Mexico.

The journey took a fortnight and there were no disasters, no near misses,
no frightening moments and no uncomfortable situations. Even negotiating
the many locks turned out to be uneventful. In short, it would make for boring reading delineating how I did everything right.

I suspect more sailors do things right than careen from near catastrophe
to near disaster to near stupidity than it would seem. This is because
the only thing magazines will print is tales of woe in the latter category.
I guess it is because there are so many more people in the inept category
who read, enjoy and identify with others of the same ilk. They cannot
identify with professionalism.

In spite of this, I'll continue to do things right even if it means I remain
anonymous and have no story that will sell in the magazines. After all,
real sailors sail. We have few if any failures and should we have one
or two over the long years, we certainly would not be proud of a
story describing them and making us look the fool.

Capt. Neal





"Joe" wrote in message oups.com...
Here is the story of my quest for a sailboat. After you read it lets
here your story, IF you have a boat. This has been published in Sail
magazine and readers digest. It is copy writed.


Fetching Red Cloud
A true
story by Joe Butcher

It was a cold dreary day in December when snipped remainder for brevity