The season is almost over. I was out sailing for a while
today. It was 44 degrees out and I was thinking that my
days of sailing this year are just about over. Perhaps I'll
get three or four more cold days in. Then I started thinking
back about the best day I spent sailing this year. It was
easy to answer that one.

**************************************
What was you best day sailing this year?
**************************************
Here's my best day this year.
**************************************
This story has two parts.

Part I

Uncle Tommy, who hadn't been sailing in 50 years, and
I went sailing on September 24th. My Uncle Tom lives in
Las Vegas most of the time and had come back to attend
his high school reunion. Tom sailed Lightning when he was
a teenager. He also has decades of commercial fishing
experience and did very well sailing for someone who
hadn't sailed in years.

It was also a light air, sunny warm day, with a rising tide. It
could not have been more pleasant for a relaxing sail and an
hour before high tide was ideal for exploring places I would
never normally risk attempting.

What I enjoyed about it was the day was sailing deep into
Ram Bay. The height of tide was about 7.5 feet and we
sailed around two islands with houses on them, where the
water is normally very shallow--inches deep, and then I got
a little bolder and sailed around a third island, really just a
clump of grass with no name, which is exposed at low tide.

I'd sailed close to this area twice before--once at extreme low
tide, and once again at mid-tide. So I'd done my prep work
and we didn't hit bottom once. I took lots of pictures because
the perspective was so unusual. I think I may post them at
the club and ask people to ID the location. No one will
ever figure it out unless they study the charts.

A big cat boat was sailing in there also, and I'm sure his draft
was less than 2 feet with his board up and he was obviously
very nervous, standing on the bow. Our draft was 3'3" and
we had 5 feet or better under us the whole time. I knew he
could sail places we could not.

On the way back, because the tide was still up, we explored
another area I'd been unable to get into between Betts and
Chimon Islands. We tapped bottom once and now I know
exactly how to sail through that area. Each of these locations
were places I'd planned to explore. I probed each of them
at various heights of tide before attempting at high tide. So this
particular sail represented weeks worth of effort, and gave me
a lot of satisfaction. It was warm, relaxing, and fabulous sailing.

Part II

The only downside to the day was some know-it-all that
started sailing last year saw us coming in and gave me a
look of disgust, walked down the ramp, and started yelling
at my Uncle Tommy to put a fender out. I'd given Tom
specific direction to get the spring line on first. I told Tom
forget about the fender and get the spring. I didn't care a bit
about fenders as the docks are well cushioned. Poor Tom
was confused by conflicting direction, and went for the fender
instead of the spring line.

This know-it-all totally screwed up my perfect docking
procedure on my picture perfect day. Rather than throw
him in the harbor I decided to calm down a bit. Back at the
office I learned than this fellow was hell-bent to get his
Captains license, was a loud mouth, and had a real problem
keeping crew. He was so loud and annoying, no one ever
repeats sailing with him again.

I told the office staff that I planned to say something to him.
Phil and Monika both encouraged me to say something to
him and were thrilled by the idea. I'd heard his name mention
previously--never anything good. When I saw him approach
I asked Monika to casually introduce him to me, as if we
hadn't been talking about him.

I gave him a nice hand shake, and an "Oh by the way, don't
ever say anything to someone when they are docking, the
students need to learn to do this on their own, and there is
nothing so distracting as people yelling on the dock when
people are trying to dock."

I made the point without getting angry. Hopefully he will take
this advice to heart. It was more important to me to make the
point stick, than take immense satisfaction throwing him in the
harbor.

He went on to brag about how many days he'd sailed
this year. I turned to Monika and asked her how many
days sailing I had this year? "A lot," she said, "more than
anyone else." He started to look uncomfortable.

Then this know-it-all started bragging that he knew every
inch part of the Norwalk Islands. I said, "Oh really? I
was just sailing in Ram Bay. Have you sailed in Ram Bay?"
He told me he didn't know where Ram Bay was. I gave
him a "You've got to be kidding" look. The blank look on
his face was priceless. I'll admit I enjoyed that too!

So I had the satisfaction of taking this guy down a peg
several times, which he badly needed, in ways that will
hopefully be productive.

I find myself frightened by the idea of this guy getting his
Captain's license. He is dangerous to himself and others.
No one should have his Captains license after sailing for
only two years. I find it strange that someone would be
more interested in a piece of paper than increasing his
skills.

As much as I dislike this fellow, I need to sail with him
and give him some sort of lecture on the sort of
personality a Captain should have. I need to think about
the best way to present that a huge ego, a loud mouth,
and limited skill do not, a Captain make.