Hi Gordon,
Your suggestion about writing a book has met with enthusiastic support
from the Admirable.
I've started a file and am dropping in remembrances as we rethink and
recall our experiences.
~~~~~~~~~
In Germany; German sailors have a strong belief in the Klabautermann -
Father Neptune - if you will.
Prior to departing on a voyage a small glass of schnapps is ceremoniously
poured into the water for the Klabautermann; to make certain that he is
happy and thereby insure a safe and uneventful voyage.
We are sailing in the Adriatic. Mid summer. Not a breath of wind.
Water surface like a mirror reflecting the few small clouds in the sky.
We are about three miles off shore at the end of the Istrian Peninsula,
having gotten there under power from Pula.
Nothing around us; no other vessel within a mile of us.
It's 90 degrees: no ice; and the beer in the bilge is warm.
So, I put 6 bottles of beer (Pivo; in Yugoslavian) from a cardboard
carrier in a net; tied a line around the net opening; closed it tightly;
then lower it down about 30 meters where the water was a bit cooler.
The family strips off bathing suits and jumps overboard to cool off by
swimming around the boat. No sense in sitting around in wet bathing
suits after a swim.
An hour later, I pull up my line, the net and the beer bottles.
The beer has cooled off, but, instead of 6 bottles in the net there are
now only 5!
How did one bottle disappear from a well closed net?
Still nobody anywhere near us; no other boats; no scuba divers
..............
No cut in the net; everything in proper order, with the line tied with
the same knot I had made prior to lowering it.
It has to be the Klabautermann collecting his dues. There is no other
explanation.
Having sailed in Germany for years: I believed it!
~~~~~~~~~~~
In Connecticut, the world is still all white; OAT is about 32 degrees (a
heat wave after days of 14 degrees temperatures), and poor LEPPO is
sitting out in the snow with the snow up over the trailer tires.
BUT SPRING WILL COME! Think Spring and sailing!
Connie
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