Time Travel Tuesday: Fraidy Cat

Today Annie has us traveling back to the last time we were really scared. The first thing I thought of was when Michael has to travel, and I hear every noise imaginable when I try to fall asleep. But I wouldn't say I was really scared (actually writing this I just thought of a time that I was really scared when Michael was away and he actually came home a day early from his trip)

...ok digressing from my original idea- Michael was away, and I watched this story on TV about an elderly couple being murdered by their handyman. It turned out, that the day before we just gave the handyman that we just hired to paint our bathroom the key to our house- I of course was convinced he was going to come in and get me.

Now back to my original idea: About 4 years ago, when Michael and I went on our first sail alone. We rented a sailboat that was a bit old (first mistake) and went out for a sail in Long Beach.

It was a Saturday and there were a lot of boats out cruising, having the other boats around was a bit unnerving. When we thought it was clear enough we practice our man over board drill, so we tossed a cushion overboard. Well all of a sudden there were all these boats around, and it was hard to do the drill, and the cushion did not make it- perhaps a warning?

Then it was getting to be the end of the day and we were ready to bring the sails in. Well this being an old sail boat, it did not have a casing for the line to coil up in when we took out the sails-and the line came out of the holder and knotted itself up. So I crawled up in front underneath the sail, trying to unknot the line so we can take the sail in. Michael is trying to keep the boat as still as possible so the sail wouldn't hit me. About 30 minutes later I had it unknotted and we brought the front sail in. (Yeah- I am ready to call it a day!- But wait not so fast....)

Now it was time to bring the main sail in, but before you bring the main sail in- you need to start the engine-Yep the engine did not start. So we called the company we rented from and they said to call Vessel Assist (like triple A for boats). Well they said that the company had let their membership expire- and could not help us. A few calls later, Michael cell phone is almost dead, and still not sure what we are going to do.

Now keep in mind, we are under sail, no engine, so we are at the mercy of the winds, there are other boats around, it is getting darker, and since Michael had to be below making all the calls, that left yours truly sailing the boat. (I don't even like driving my car in traffic so this was the scary part for me, because I thought I was going to crash into another boat).

Well long story short, the Lifeguard boat came out to tow us in. A tad embarrassing, but at least the mechanic could not start the engine when we got in, turned out a wire came loose.

Of course it is like falling off a horse, you have to get right back on, our next sailing trip was much smoother, we learned don't rent the cheapest boat in the fleet- there is a reason it is so cheap to rent! Us on happier sailing day:

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