Thursday, January 21, 2010

Dinghy MANoeuvres


OK. So I admit have been a bit casual in taking my turn at skippering the dinghy.

I decided that the time had come to regain the skills I used with the previous run about, an inflatable. (and easy to balance toy) This new (to us) hard plastic dinghy is our work horse and we use it often. Glenn just sort of fits very nicely in the drivers seat next to the outboard.

The calm aqua waters of Moruya Bay seemed to be the perfect learning area.
What I hadn't counted upon was the importance of passengers being strategically placed equally in both weight and seating configuration, AND the fact that Glenn just loves action and just can't sit still.

The steering seemed strangely erratic as I carefully concerntrated on the job at hand, watching for all of the small splashy waves and ripples. It just didn't make sense to me that the course could change dramatically for no apparent reason. The trip was from the town wharf back to the entrance of the river and I was growing increasingly dispondent at my futile attempts to master such a simple task.

Glenn kept offering incredibly obvious and useless hints to assist me. In frustration I glared at him and noticed the bleeding obvious. Everytime he turned around to advise me or leaned over to enjoy the water (continuously) he was actually steering the boat with his well endowed posterior: HIS BUM!!! When I pointed this out to him he took offence and stood up and waved
his arms towards our destination. Yes the temptation was very real at that moment to make a sharp turn to port side but I used my self control and firmly asked him to stay still. Begrudgingly he did.

Not being one to take blame to heart, the ever cheeky and resourceful Glenn has since taken to experimenting with many different possible ways of steering hands free. My favourite so far is the "Cleopatra" pose. I spied him doing this one in a quiet backwater while I was on deck using the binoculars. He had a side lounging pose stretching over the top of all three seats with his right leg delicately extended and his well articulated toes holding onto the tiller. That's the kind of guy Glenn is! (pray for me)

This kind of thing happens every day.

Bye for now
When the tides and the weather align favourably we'll be off to Bermagui.

Love to all
Jen

1 comment:

  1. Oh Jen, you had me nearly crying with laughter reading this - Andrew's just the same!! Love reading your blogs, you're both so entertaining. We've sent your link to Nigel and Petrina so you have two more followers. Take care, Lynne

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