Up till then everything had gone rather well - a week's sailing in which every manoeuvre, every hoist or drop, had gone to plan. On the final day we had blasted home upwind at over 7 - 8 knots most of the way. The mooring buoy was almost in sight and the week's sail was coming to an end, when we had to do what turned out to be the penultimate tack of the week.
"Ready about?" asks I, "ready" they respond, so "tacking" I say, pushing the tiller to one side.
Maybe I was leaning a little forward because then there was a bang to the side of my head, an "ow!" and I was on the floor of the cockpit with my glasses despatched to Davy Jones's locker.
Everyone was rather concerned, not the least me.
"Did you see stars?" asks the skipper.
"No" I say, "just the boom, very close up"
"Do you feel nauseousness?"
"No, rather hungry actually"
I may have got away with that one. However be on the look our for strange behaviour - inventing Australian journalists with unlikely initials springs to mind.
It might be a good time to quote Sergeant Phil Esterhaus from the Hill Street Blues:
"Let's be careful out there"
9 comments:
And this my friend is why they call it a boom:
http://messingaboutinboats.typepad.com/sailing/2009/06/boom.html
Hope you're alright. Hope you're alright.
Be safe, be aware, we all know why they call it a boom and why everyone on the boat should be able to manage different jobs.
Booms. One of the reasons I prefer rowing.
The NHS says they can't find anything wrong, so I will have alas no excuse for poor punctuation or spelling.
I couldn't spell or remember names before so it won't matter if can't afterwards.
But impacts between heads and booms seem a common complaint amongst sailors, so at least I have good company.
Oh, yeah, booms hurt. Unless you're far enough away, and it's a different sort of boom.
owwwch! Hope you're ok ?!!
ps('tis the year of 'To Heck With Correct Spelling and Punctuation', better known as '2 hek wyth spilin n punk28shon')
pps(hope Joc Dundee hasn't resorted to tippex again ;)
Thanks Kat!
Apparently this sort of thing happens to Joc all the time - which no doubt explains a lot ;)
Ouch! Let's hope the only grey matter knocked out was the hair variety.
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