Mind Of Her Own

[Kristal]

Crystal pulled off another stunt during this week that convinced me she knows what she is doing, with or without my involvement.

Woolverstone Marina have, it seems, oversold their permanent berths and are now turning away visitors, despite pronouncing on their carrier bags that "Visitors [are] very welcome". This is a shame, because I like Woolverstone and they've always been very nice to me there. I didn't know this at the time, either, so being unable to raise them on the VHF at about 10pm after 11 hours sailing, I put into a berth and wander up to the office to be told to sling my hook.

I telephone Shotley and arrange a berth there, but without much relish as I'm already tired and stressed and my eyes are starting to tire - not helpful for negotiating Shotley's dredged channel and lock. They say okay, come on down. I restart Crystal's engine, and switch the nav lights back on - which promptly sputter and fail. I trace the fault to a dodgy deck connection and, returning to the office with a "You won't believe this, but..." I explain that I would rather not traverse the Orwell without navs. I can luckily hang off the John Laing, moored on a hammerhead, at my own risk until morning. Perfect.

There was never a sign of trouble with those nav lights before, and they had been fine coming up the Orwell from the sea - furthermore, I hadn't been anywhere near the connector. I can't help but think that the old girl pulled an embarassingly fast one on me, but I wasn't half glad...

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[Peterduck]

That's part of the benefit of sailing a real classic; when you've looked after her as best you can, given her more than you can afford, and now everything's turned pear-shaped and you've passed the limit of your endurance, she'll turn around and look after you. They understand these things. They've seen it all before, often many times, and they know just what to do. I think that the great JDS wrote about this phenomenon on a number of occasions.
Peter.

 

[BrendanS]

Mine, although not a classic, and is a high powered speed boat in effect, knows I love her to death. As a result, she only ever shows her displeasure by doing so in benign conditions where repairs can be effected in controlled conditions.
Coming back from Salcombe she only broke down minorly when within reach of Sea Start and a hobble to a good anchorage.

Going the other way, she showed her hull problems before I started.

Those were the only two times she needed attention I didn't know she required

If the battery if going to go flat, she shows that by not starting before I even set off.

She's never let me down when needed, and I love her dearly for that, and I know she knows!

 

[Kristal]

I don't think it's necessarily anything to do with being a classic - it's just a boat thing. There has got to be a reason why, since time immemorial, they have been treated more like a living being than any other inanimate object on the planet, and very often by tough, hoary men in whom the rigours of seagoing life one would expect to have worn away any tendency for irrational sentiment.

There are also some truly stroppy boats out there, I'm sure! They can't all be benign...

I've had a growing conviction for some time now about Crystal's attitude - she seems to have got used to me and takes her own steps to ensure my inexperience doesn't get us into trouble - and this incident at Woolverstone was almost too bizarre to be true. The duty manager certainly pointed out that it was a very convenient malfunction, and I couldn't argue with that.

I should like to read any of JDS's thoughts on such matters, I have a very high regard for his opinions (but then again, I haven't yet met anyone who doesn't). I like the idea that 'they've seen it all before', too, it's something that occurred to me a while ago, when someone suggested a lumpy sea was too much for her. I considered it, and then realised that she'd probably seen far worse, and that the only thing suffering was my wine-glasses, inexpertly stowed!

/<

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[BrendanS]

It's totally irrational, but my beloved never ever lets me down. Ever.
One of the reasons why I can head home through rough seas, confident she will never fail.

If anything is going to fail, she does it where I can bodge something. She does this when heading out at night. The only times Nav lights fail is just as I'm heading out, and can fix, never when I need them.