Well here we are. The sun is about to cross that celestial line that siginifies longer days and shorter nights. Unfortunately for what we sailors call the Santa Barbara Channel or our chamber of commerce affectionately calls the Gold Coast(now pewter), summer has been a long time coming. Way too much wind and did I say we have had a windy year so far?
Anyways, with summer, brings days on the water enjoying what we love most(besides family, gardening, work and commuting) ………..BOATING! There have been hints of summer or may I say teases of it in the last few weeks. ’A’ warm sunny day, followed by 3-5 NUCLEAR POWERED WIND STORMS, with a nice follow up of rain in MAY?
I have also witnessed the JIMMY BUFFET powered sailboat come by our pier heads in Ventura a couple of times. Now this guy has spirit and I don’t even like JB. Shirtless and JB a blaring, he sails to and frow without a care in the world.
The first mass exodus occurred last Saturday as our local flotilla, sortied for Prisoners, Pelican and Smugglers for our weekend of Memorial. I am sure that it was a wonderful time out there, but as a person completely invested in the boating life, I strove to immerse myself in activities I brand as “NBR”. NBR is my code for NON BOAT RELATED which means anything I can do to keep my mind away from boats, paint, harbors or in plain english”ANYTHING TO KEEP MY MIND OFF THIS PLACE,GOD BLESS IT AND ITS INHABITANTS”.
NBR usually means dirt, mountains, a golf course or just my own backyard.
Customers, GOD BLESS THEM TOO, may not be able to grasp the sheer number of hats, the average boatyard owner has to wear: Safety officer, quality control officer, environmental officer, engineering officer, operations officer, information technology officer, communications officer, marketing officer, chief financial officer, landlord, tenant, etc etc etc.
So off I go into our summer, wait what was that? I think I stepped on a pop top.