It seems a bit quiet on the list… The difference between a sea story and a fairy tale: A fairy tale begins with “Once upon a time…” A sea story begins with “now this ain’t no sh*t…”
Now this ain’t no sh*t: Back in the IOR racing days of the early 80’s I was a card carrying member of the Foredeck Union (abbreviated as FU). As a FU member in good standing, when on a crew doing the foredeck (Adventure land) duties, I always felt I owned the boat from the mast forward. This particular race boat was 54’ custom design with a powerful sail plan to help with the typical light air of the PNW. With large often heavy sails (including an early Kevlar #3 that seemed to be made of plywood) some sail evolutions took longer than others. The owner/skipper/tactician (top guy in Fantasy land) was (still is) very competitive, spent considerable $$ for the extra 1/10th knot speed increase, and he thought he owned the entire boat regardless who was on the bow. In the middle of a long point to point race with many transitions, head sail/spinnaker/head sail etc., the owner yells something at the foredeck I couldn’t quite hear but maybe something like “a bunch of little girls could hoist that sail faster”. Being a young (ish) arrogant card carrying FU member I responded with a full throated “F*ck you”. Fortunately the pit guy was sharp witted and well placed between the foredeck and the cockpit. When the owner yelled back, rather angrily “what did he say?” the pit guy answers “put up the #2”. Martin DeYoung Calypso 1971 C&C 43 Port Ludlow/Seattle Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows
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