Ft. Myers Beach on the Ball

Here we sit like birds in the wilderness, birds in the wilderness, birds in the wilderness

I sit here listening to the NOAA weather forecast switching back from channel 2 to channel 7 covering the weather ranging from Tampa to Ft. Myers and from Florida Bay to here. Another front is swooping down on the one stalled over south Florida. The coastal waters here to Cape Sable are quite nice, 2 or less being protected from the mainland. Weather past Cape Sable across Florida Bay promises winds 20-25 for the next several days. Gee, looks like we spend another week languishing on the ball. Guess I will have to pull together a work list to keep Captn Lynnie busy and me out of trouble.

A good Captain does not allow his crew time to create mischief. Therefore on modern navy ships made of steel there is always scrapping paint, chipping rust and re-painting. On the old sailing ships it was maintaining lines, mending sails and scrubbing the decks with holy stones.

On Skinwalker it is, well, it really hasnt been anything, but let me make something up for the benefit of this private look into the everyday life of the crew. Oh, yeah. Sweeping and dusting. Now how in the heck does a boat get so darn dusty? It is like we were back in Arizona. You dust and sweep and a few hours later it needs it again. We also have scrubbing the deck needs. When we first got the boat back in the water after refit and painting, Lynnie slipped and fell on the foredeck which is canted aft significantly. Ouch. It hurt. So we re-painted the deck using a lot more non-skid beads. Now it is real hard to slip but the rough textured surface collects dirt easily and should be cleaned frequently. We also have varnished wood toe and cap rails, at the Captns request that she has volunteered to maintain. (Little did she know). Our painted teak in green trim is not holding the paint well so that needs to be sanded and repainted.

Oh yeah, back to crew mischief. We all know, well, half of us know, the impenetrable mind of a women with idle time is a spawning ground for evil. It is the Devils playground. It is a battlefield littered with mutilated remnants of Stephen King dreams. Once focused on a broken grain of irrelevance, a female can roll this grain around in her mind coating it with mental debris until a perfectly awful gem of sinfulness is locked and loaded into her breech of discontent her mouth. Here it sits along side other gems, ready to be ejaculated, to spew forth and pierce the heart of an unsuspecting Captain.

That is why it is necessary to keep a woman, er, crew, busy every waking moment of the day. If we are really good as captains we get them to believe it is their idea and build a mantra for them to remind themselves such as Give every living minute sixty seconds worth the distance run. Once they believe, the captain is safe from mutiny and other dire consequences.

You other captains out there take heed. Beware the Idles of March and the rest of the months. Keep those work lists current and at hand or risk losing your ship and command.

Wasted days and wasted nights (Freddy Fender) from the pilothouse.

(NOTE FROM THE CREW: What a load of crap! Talk about idle minds and Stephen King. Do you think I need to worry about my safety?)