|
CHARTERING
Owning a boat, unless you are in the Richard Branson or Peter De Savoury
class, means that you are forever scrimping in one direction in order to
spend in another. When it comes to a choice between a new 3 piece suit or
a spinnaker, there's no contest. All sorts of very seasoned arguments are
put forward as to the merits of the new equipment which is absolutely
essential for next year's sailing season (the fact that we've done quite
nicely without these things for years is neither here nor there). Over the
years we've had heated debates over whether we should or should not
?invest? in this or that but generally been won over by the triumphant
plea of ?it?s a good safety factor you know?. You can't disagree with
that. When the chips are down safety is all that really counts. Thus, in
common with many others, we have dispensed hundred of pounds on items we
hope never to use liferaft, flares, EPIRB, emergency grab bag - to name a
few. The list seems endless and grows every year. With the vast array of
electronic ?goodies? the desire to spend more money becomes ever greater.
So it was that we found ourselves with a lager boat, which was undoubtedly
more comfortable than the first one, but equally more expensive to
maintain. We decided, somewhat regretfully, that chartering would be the
key to our financial solvency.
We therefore prepared our first advertisement, received our first reply
and waited nervously for the arrival of our first charters. They turned
out to be keen group of young people who were very excited about their
forthcoming holiday. Even after lengthy explanations on the idiosyncrasies
of the engine, cooker, heads, ect. They were raring to go. We watched our
beloved boat sail out into the harbour with very mixed emotions, hoping
and praying that in 2 weeks time we would be watching it return in one
piece. Every time the wind blew we worried a little, but eventually return
it did, safe and sound. In fact, this particular charters fell in love
with the boat and when she came up for sale 3 years later he snapped her
up.
After that first time it wasn't quite so bad and we enjoyed meeting the
crews and discussing where they were planning to go. All were enthusiastic
and it satisfying to know that we had contributed to the enjoyment of
their holiday.
The strangest group we had were 2 middle-aged people with an elderly
gentleman about 75, who had some difficulty in climbing on board. We
assumed that the middle-aged couple were man and wife, perhaps taking
their elderly relative or friend along for a cruising holiday. However, it
transpired that the woman was married to the elderly gent and that the
younger man was acting as crew, general aide and, judging from the way he
handled the wife as she struggled with the luggage, his duties were
extensive.
Charters were asked to return by a certain time in the morning in order
that the boat could be cleaned and 'turned round' for a new group coming
in the afternoon. One Saturday, I was kept waiting for 3 hours after the
official time was up and as the boat was out on a mooring I was left to
ponder that something must be wrong. After a nerve wracking time it
eventually came alongside and the charters stepped ashore without so much
as an apology, saying that his wife was 'getting ready'. As they had
crossed the Channel the previous night I had certain sympathy, which
quickly dispelled as she appeared on deck dressed and coiffure
immaculate. All the time I had been waiting had clearly been spent on
getting the image exactly right, not a hair was out of place and nails
were beautifully polished.
A group of young doctors chartered from us and I was greatly impressed by
their large size thermos flasks, ideal I thought for the first night's
crossing. I enquired where they could be bought. My query was greeted with
an embarrassed smile "Actually, we've just borrowed these from the
hospital. We use them to transport the kidneys which are used for
transplants". Ask a silly question!
 
|
