September 04, 2003 - 13:14

The master plan is on track, and we took another step this past weekend. The four of us are all now certified to operate a boat up to 35 feet or so in costal waters on an overnight cruise. But that is the least of the story from this weekend.

Let us start with our Captain. Meet Captain Morgan, we like to think of her as Ernie, but a chick. She can make a boat dance, and at one point I swear she teleported a 31 foot boat from one slip to another. I don't know how she did it, but she did.

Now, Captain Morgan is a fantastic Captain, a wonderful person (donated a kidney...now has no belly button (she showed Shane)) but has a rough time with men. This may stem from her insistance that she won't date anyone who can't tie a bowline. Her main preoccupation this weekend was with the fact that she had a date with her ex-boyfriend. I don't feel comfortable going into a lot of detail, but suffice to say she had every right to dump him, and no reason to go back. Except that she is obviously very in love with him.

Captain Morgan was the highlight of the entire trip. She was funny, told great stories and has a knack for teaching. By the end of the trip she had: Completely abused poor Shane, smeared me with peanut butter, protected Shane from the rest of us, yelled at all of us, taught all of us and invited all of us to crew with her anytime.

To get a sense of her personality, I'll pass on this story: There is a 7 day cruising class that is part of the Master Plan that she teaches. On her last trip out, she got into some very heavy weather, and even saw a water spout (water tornado). At the begining of the storm she put on Gordon Lightfoots "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" on repeat, and was screaming out the lyrics "Does any one know where the love of God goes When the waves turn the minutes to hours" over the wind and blowing rain. A complete psycho, we loved her.

The trip was incredible. To balance the good Captain, the tranquil harbor of Rock Hall Landing was our hang-out. We raced into it ahead of the storm, and as we docked I had my nautical skills high point as I threw a clove hitch over a piling that was out of reach. It sounds lame, but having practiced that knot since fire-school, it was quite pleasing to be able to use it in that situation.

The ships in the far harbor danced and rolled as the sun set behind a bank of clouds that glowed all colors of red and orange. It was cool, and the wind had died and we all sat and watched the sun die away. It was a quiet time.

Later, after we had some outstanding seafood, some more lessons (not just navigation, Jen now knows how to pull apart a crab) and a fantastic band at the restraunt, we all went back and sat in the darkness, drinking Captain Morgan (not that, sickos, spiced rum...) and some scotch Alan brought.

It was at somepoint in this night that I turned to Jen and Alan and said "Its as if they've known each other for 20 years." Yes, Shane and Captain Morgan are soul-mates. It is hard to explain, but I've never seen two people click like those two did. And I don't mean that in any way that Shane's wife needs to worry about, they just got a long really well, and while we teased Shane about it later, it was very cool. Everybody was very comfortable around her.

I'm inserting this after I was done. I can't over state how funny this was to watch. She gave Shane all kinds of shit, he gave it right back, and at one point when I said something to Shane she jumped in my shit. And another thing...we would have Captain Morgan again as Captain anytime, she wasn't just a hoot, she was a very talented (and opinionated) sailor.

We all did well on the skills tests we went through the next day. She was very impressed. So much so that she offered to let us crew with her when she delivers boats. I can't think of any way to do better in a course than that. She actually has Shane's cell phone number in her cell. That would be cool.

There is so much I don't have time to tell you. About the whole peanut butter thing, or the new thing we learned about Jen, or how Alan almost hit me with the boom (twice), or how thinking pink is good or any of a thousand things.

Basically we all had a great time, and I can't wait until April for sailing season to start up again. There are still a few more classes to take. One 3 day and one 7 day cruising class and a 2-day classroom navigation course.

In the meantime, I'll just giggle at Captain Morgan, and wonder if the peanut butter is still stuck to the anchor.

I'm out

Kynny

(whistlin' Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald)

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