I’ve either had writers block all week or what I’d write would be boring. It seems If I were a dockhand at the marina I’d have lots to write about.

Today a rather large sport fishing boat came to dock overnight. The boat was docking one pier over and I couldn’t hear the exact exchange between the dockmaster meeting the boat. Dockmaster asked the two guys on the boat to throw him a line. One guy was at the helm and the other guy was I guess supposed to be the line handler. The line handler guy disappears for a moment and comes back with a jumbled mess of what looks like a very small line for the size boat being tied. The dockmaster says to throw him the line and the guy throws the entire jumbled mess to the dockmaster. The dockmaster does not laugh or belittle the guy. He throws the mess back to the guy on the boat and tells him he needs to tie one end of the the line to the boat and throw the other end to the dockmaster to tie to the dock piling. The guy on the boat gets the mess of line untangled and then there is a discussion of which end the guy should tie to the boat. The dockmaster says for the boat guy to put the loop end of the line on the boat’s cleat. The boat guy says his rope doesn’t have a loop on either end. Duh! The dockmaster tells the boat guy to make a loop and drop it over the cleat on the boat.(Pretty sure the boat guy does not know how to tie a cleat hitch to the boat cleat ) Blank stares with the boat guy on how to tie a bowline loop knot or just tie any knot to the boat. The guy driving the boat seems to not know these knots or docking procedures either but is controlling the boat while all of this unfolds. Somehow, one end of the line gets tied to the bow cleat and the dockmaster ties the other end to the dock. A similar line for the stern is untangled and secures the stern. All is well. The boat was lucky that there was NO wind or current generated by a docked ferry during all of this. The dockmaster didn’t try to explain spring lines. I believe that may have just been too much for these two. I did walk over to the dock and take a look and they are just tied with a single bow and single stern line. Tomorrow the wind is going to pick up to 15-20 knots with gusts to 25. They will certainly need spring lines or the boat is going to get banged around at the dock.

Today is the start of the Pirate Jamboree. The two pirate ships are here. They will have a cannon battle tomorrow. And, poor Blackbeard will be captured and have his head cut off. Hoping he gets away this time and rewrites history. There is an encampment of pirates, a gun display of various weapons. There are lots of guys and girls dressed in pirate outfits. There are song groups and tonight a throwback edition of the “Dating Game” where Blackbeard asks adult questions of 3 winches that would like to go on a date with him. Uh that was hilarious. One wench was not a wench at all but a mermaid. So, funny.

Today’s picture is a couple of happy pirates.