On Sunday mornings at the marina, well near it, there is a market. It's not a very big market - in fact its really rather tiny - but it is the only Market in Albany through the winter and we enjoy it all the same. The highlights of it for us is that there is a coffee stall and live music to entertain the crowd! So each Sunday morning, at some point, we wander up, get coffee (or chai latte and hot chocolates) and listen to the musicians.
This morning I think it was us who provided the entertainment!
When we do the test for our Skippers Tickets there is a written test and a practical assessment. The practical assessment is about handling our boat, getting off and onto a mooring, steering etc. We do a pretty good job with our yacht, but the actual testing will take place in a small motor boat with an outboard motor. Well I have had NO experience in managing a small boat - and have had no opportunity to get any experience while our dinghy has been being fixed from when we hit it coming in a while ago. It's all repaired now and Peter and I decided that it was time!
So first thing this morning Liam and Peter dropped the dinghy into the water and put on the outboard motor. It was pretty cool and windy and I happily offered for the children to have some practice using it first! When we are travelling and on a swing mooring it will be essential that they can manage the dinghy, but even when we are out sailing, if we want to drop the anchor and explore a lovely beach it will also be a very good thing if they are confident with the dinghy.
Liam was thrilled and soaked up all the instructions Peter gave him for getting in, pushing off and how to sit to balance the boat. Erina had her hair extensions in and was a little reluctant to mess about in the dinghy at first, but soon saw the fun the boys were having and cheerfully pulled out her hair to join in!
Sometimes I avoid things I think I will find tricky. Its not my best trait but I am on to it and most of the time I catch myself doing it and when I realise what is happening I can push myself to face what I am afraid of.
This morning I was feeling intimidated by the dinghy - and needing to manage the outboard motor. I saw the children and Peter having fun and decided to get a grip! So I changed into some old shoes and tracky pants and faced my fears! While I was changing everyone came back and Peter tied up the dinghy. There was a moment when I knew I could quite easily have got away with not getting in, but I knew I had to do it, so I announced to Peter that it was 'My turn now!'.
I think he was quite surprised - but he happily hopped back into the boat and started giving me the basic instructions. I'd been listening when he was explaining all this to the children so I felt quite like I had my head around it all. I actually started the motor first time all by myself. I managed the throttle and after a while even the steering! My docking left a little to be desired - Peter later told some visitors that I seemed to have forgotten where the throttle was at that stage - but I had thought I had slowed down quite well! I managed a neat little turn around a pole in the middle of the harbour and then had another go at docking - with much more success this time!
All this in front of the crowd sipping their lattes and hot chocolates outside the market!
The entertainment didn't stop with me! The children have had the BEST day in and out of the dinghy. Liam at one stage was laying in it, reading as it sat, tied to the jetty, drifting with the tide and occasional wake of a power boat leaving or returning to the harbour. Erina took a camera and stood in it taking photos of whatever caught her eye, and then , as a piece-de-resistance, the children decided to try and pull themselves all the way around the marina in the dinghy! It took them quite some time and I think they decided about half way around that it was perhaps less of a goal than it had previously been!
Their progress was of interest to some of the last of the market crowd as well as all the fishermen who had gathered during the early afternoon.
They spent the entire rest of the day in the dinghy - Liam in particular who seemed quite enamoured of it! He fished from it, figured out how to attach it to the hooks that raise it up to the davit at the back of the boat, and experimented with other ways of securing it to the jetty, copying tie off techniques he'd seen other boats using. We had some visitors later in the afternoon, with two boys around his age. Together, the three of them were a delight to watch, their enjoyment of the dinghy quite palpable!
Next week we hope to sit for our Skippers Tickets and I think I am almost ready!