Of buried treasure, deadman's bench & 11.7 knots
Tillymint.fortescue
Wed 21 Dec 2011 14:24
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It is 6.15 am and a group of three adults are
huddled over the deck table, coloured pencils in hand, a look of blank confusion
on their collective brows as the spark of literary creativity fails to spark on
demand. As it is neither a writers' workshop, a life-drawing masterclass or a
touch too much of the tropical sun taking its toll, an explanation is required.
Herb's 7th Birthday. More explanation ?....
Zip-wire parks, animal safaris, walking on the
stingrays... none quite seemed right for the special birthday moment so, "What
about a treasure hunt ?" was the captain's brainwave. Amazing what they teach
you at Captains' School. Seemed like a good idea when it emerged the night
before, a trifle too enthusiastic when the early-morning alarm call went to
muster the conspirators. Not just any old treasure hunt, a pirate hunt. Three
maps, two message-in- bottles, one compass, one coil of rope, three presents in
a wet bag, one spade, and a series of dinghy rides back and forth between two
beaches, and a partridge in a pear tree. That was just for the set up ! Same
again for the discovery of the floating bottle, the mad dash to find the hidden
treasure before we forgot where it was buried. The people aboard the nearby
yacht plainly thought we were dangerously bonkers and soon upped anchor and
fled.
It took nearly as long to unravel the clues but,
the discovery of the Batman Lego Nintendo game in bag 12 inches below the burned
pirate's finger seemed to satisfy the birthday boy. Never did find the chest of
golden dubloons.
With those pesky Christmas winds due in from the
North, it was time to flee for the shelter of the southern bays. With only a
genoa, a quick gybe sent us with the 15 knot wind and we topped out at 11.7
knots in a gently-rolling sea. Fabulous sail back to Carlisle Bay. A super yacht
had had the same idea and was anchored adjacent to our spot, 212 feet of
gleaming white crewdom.... there was even a deckhand in the water with a mask
and flippers scrubbing the hull next to the generator exhaust ...while the
generator was still on. Somebody has to do it, I suppose.
Birthday treat surprise was the Knee Board with
Captain Bill showing us how it was done, kneeling, standing, reverse 360,
etc then Herb and Jaz both copying first time success. Real water babies. We
won't mention Dad's wipe outs.
Chocolate cake heaven by Nathalie with 7 candles
rounded off a perfect day which even the middle-of-the-night call from the super
yacht ("please standby on deck as we are about to leave") couldn't spoil. A
perfect day.
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