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Back at the marina post-cruise, Grant’s niece Kim and boyfriend Ben popped in for lunch before flying back home to wet and cold Melbourne. Kim lay sprawled half asleep on the settee, with the winter sun streaming in through the overhead hatch. “Don’t want to leave” she declared. Kim has the distinction of being the first family member to see Masala, and from all accounts she fell in love with the boat (no, she isn’t looking to buy a yacht, she is too busy being a Vet).
So many visitors on board! And so much more fun than when we had Masala last time, when we had none. |
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SOME FUNNY AND NOT SO FUNNY STORIES—NUMBER 1: STEFAN & ROS |
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There were a number of notable incidents during our time in the marina, some good, some not. One “not good” was our very inexperienced neighbours Stefan and Ros on their newly-purchased Beneteau 40. Whilst in Melbourne packing up the house, we had received two emails and one phone call from concerned people on boats near ours, telling us that Stefan and Ros didn’t know how to handle their boat and were hitting ours as they brought it back into their berth.
There was nothing we could do about it at the time, but as soon as we were on board we carried out an inspection of the side of Masala facing them. Sure enough, we found gouges in our hand rails and a smashed navigation light.
On the weekend, Stefan and Ros turned up and introduced themselves. Stefan owned up to smashing the light and claimed he had organized for it to be fixed since we weren’t there, but nothing had been done. Instead he paid for the new light that we had already purchased and were very lucky to get, since the model was over 7 years old and imported from USA.
Over the next 4 weeks I offered Stefan lots of advice on boat handling, including indicating I would be willing to come on board and help. It was like water off a duck’s back. He continued to make the same mistakes over and over, to the point where we dreaded weekends and felt we couldn’t leave the boat until they were back in the marina.
One weekend my patience finally ran out, when after yet another dismal attempt to berth his boat, and only missing Masala due to Leanne’s efforts on his ropes, Stefan came over and said he thought he did really well and was getting better each time. My face obviously must have indicated otherwise, as he asked “What do you think?” That opened the door, so I told him.
There was no recovering from that conversation. At the end of it, Stefan asked me what I wanted. I said, “I want you to stop hitting my boat”. He replied, “Your boat is in a marina, you should expect it to be hit.” I was dumbfounded.
He denied straight out that he had a problem handling his boat. I said, “Stefan, the trouble is that at this stage in your sailing career, you don’t know what you don’t know.” His response was breathtaking. “I’m on the board of several medical companies. I’m a high achiever. I’ve analyzed my performance and there’s nothing wrong with it. I’m a motorcyclist and I have 360 degree peripheral awareness.”
What can you say to that? I could only manage “Stefan, you will find that sailing is a great leveler. It doesn’t matter what else you’ve done in life, you still can’t handle your boat.”
Earlier Stefan had told us that they were moving to another berth, a suggestion of mine since the one they had was too hard to get in and out of for beginners. So after what he’d just said, I asked him when he was moving.
“We’ve decided to buy a berth in Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, but it’s not available until December, so we’ve decided to stay” he said. My face must have fallen because he added “Why, is that a problem?” “Yes” I said, to which he looked totally offended. |
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EAST COAST MARINA STORIES |
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