Random act of kindness day

[meatservo]

Idiot, really, Kindness is a great thing, pass it on we need more of it in this world.

But the jackwad whose boat you just tried to do nice things for may see it completely different. Especially from a foreign country.

I would never touch someone else's boat without permission, unless it was a serious/life threatening situation like a fire. A friend's boat is another thing.

Go ahead and jump on another boat to "do the right thing" and then find out the owner is the head of the russian mafia, or achmed mustafa habib...



Just sayin'


meatservo

[ontherocks83]

Originally Posted by siamese

My random act of kindness for you, is to advise you to never perform work on, or otherwise handle someone else's boat without their permission.

See thats exactly what I said.........just nicer and less violent. ......same message though. Dont touch my s*&$ unless its an emergency at which point i'll probably be able to tell by the smoke or low water line that something is amiss and you are trying to help. But if I see you with tools swimming out from under my boat im going to asssume you are stealing my prop.

[Rockyscience]

Originally Posted by ontherocks83

But if they ARE actually out to get me, is it still paranoia?

You should be in a place where no one is out to "get" you my friend.
perhaps you are over reacting to random acts of kindness,
think about it. We are not out to get you.
I was in the caribbean and some people we had met came over and cleaned our water line before we departed as an act of kindness, why are some of you acting as if it is an act of violence?? I hope I come across you some day I do have something for you.
However, I know no sailor from the Northeast US will enjoy "all the HARM" so stay with your kind...

[HankOnthewater]

I am sure that many would have seen the movie "Pay it forward".
And I assume something like that was the intent of this thread?

BTW, we make the society we live in, and acts of kindness or the lack of it, will determine what kind of community we create.

[ontherocks83]

Originally Posted by Rockyscience

You should be in a place where no one is out to "get" you my friend.
perhaps you are over reacting to random acts of kindness,
think about it. We are not out to get you.
I was in the caribbean and some people we had met came over and cleaned ourit is water line before we departed as an act of kindness, why are some of you acting as if it is an act of violence?? I hope I come across you some day I do have something for you.

Is it beer? I hope its beer. That is an act of kindness I can understand. I really hope its not a hug though. Im good with hugs. Only like to hug my wife and kids. Not much of a touchy feely guy outside of that. Oh bourbon is good too. Beer or bourbon. Yup that sounds plenty kind to me. Oh wait its not one of those what would Jesus do bracelets, is it? If it is then i'll save you the trouble. He would give wine. Red not white.

[sailorboy1]

Impressive. Can hardy wait for Random Act of Meanness Day.

[goat]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Impressive. Can hardy wait for Random Act of Meanness Day.

That's the rest of the year.

goat

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[Kenomac]

I've done the prop clean/hull cleaning thing for some cruising friends more than once, with their permission of course and found it to be much appreciated as always within the cruising world.

But here in New England, while on land... I've found the same type acts leading more often to "no good deed, goes unpunished." Unfortunately, that's been my local experience over the past thirty years.

Like the time my next door neighbor asked me if I could cut and remove a fallen tree that was blocking his driveway following a snow storm, and plow his driveway for his wife since he was out of town. A very nice guy, so I did it. His wife almost ran me over with her car just as I was finishing the job... She didn't even slow down. She was running late and.... I guess she thought I was too slow.

[Hudson Force]

I always promote acts of kindness, but this one sounds dangerous. I would not risk diving to clean someone's prop and rudder without their prior knowledge. If the were planning on departing, they might start their engine while I was at the task! Even when I clean my own prop, I place the ignition key away from the panel. .....Paranoia?

[rbrentp]

Seems the group fits into two categories. Those who appreciate an act of kindness....probably all philosophically.... and those that may not be as trusting as others. Personally, acts of kindness are good but don't touch my boat unless I am coming into the slip in a nasty crosswind.

Also, jumping in the water implies a lot warmer water than here

[captlloyd]

Originally Posted by ontherocks83

You all act like if you walked out to your car and saw someone peering through your windows that you would assume they were cleaning your windows out of the goodness of their heart instead of thinking that they were casing your car to steal something.

Capt Lloyd coming to your defense here. While I am certainly in favor of random acts of kindness, the OP was pretty much out there. I think the problem here is, has the OP informed the boat owner that he wishes to do the owner a favor by cleaning his prop? I too would be upset if I saw someone doing something to my boat without notifying me.
If this is Random Act of Kindness Day, lets be kind.

[tinkrman69]

sounds like a perpetual victim case. thought precedes reality. If you think everyone is a potential bad guy, your reality will confirm it. But if on the other hand, if you see someone peering in your car windows, realize you do not know what is going on in their head and introduce yourself and ask if you can help them. If you have it in your mind that they are up to no good, the encounter will come off badly. If giving them the benefit of the doubt id in the forefront of your mind the encounter will come to good in one way or the other.

goodwill and acceptance of others will attract goodwill and acceptance from others. If you want good you have to give it first.

over the years I've noticed a new breed of cruiser. They seem to have, what I call the Isolationist mentality. if someone offers help they first look at how well they are dressed and how expensive their boat is and judge them as being unfit to intermingle. if they don't fit a cir tan image. Now don't get me wrong. Just because a cruiser is well to do, doesn't mean they fit this category, there're many who still have an open mind and will judge someone by their actions in stead of their looks. I have many "well to do" friends and many not so well to do friends. In keeping the idea of class out of the picture I've been able to help some "derelict boaters" become cruisers and be able to "cruise"

We are all in this symphony of life together and every Violin needs the tenor drum and tuba to make the orchestra sound beautiful.

[W3GAC]

During a non-stop crossing of the Gulf of Mexico from Galveston to Tampa on our way to St Thomas there was no wind, our freezer raw water pump stop running, and then a day out of Tampa a violent TS. When we arrived at the Tampa Bay entrance at 6p on a Sunday we were nearly out of fuel/ soaked, all our food in jeopardy of spoiling, and wanting a marina slip to repair/ replace the freezer pump. We had no responses to several calls on VHF (16, 9, 72 ,...) and only answering machines responses from cellphone marina numbers. Then out of the blue was a relaxed voice asking our position and draft, beam, mast height, point of departure and destination, and other than fuel... what other needs did we have. We then received specific course/ buoy directions by phone and that we would be met to guide us the rest of the way as it would nearly dark. As it turned out, this wasn't the CG or even a marina. We were led by a very generous owner of a 60' private dock behind his very highend house (mansion!) who turned out to be an early Microsoft SW engineer (employee # 9 I think) who was out fishing on his boat and heard our no response call. When we arrived his wife had a wonderful hot meal ready for us. During the dinner conversation he asked if I knew the make/ model # of freezer pump (I did) and they suggested we sleep in a bit and invited us join them for breakfast at 10a and bring all out laundry, including bed sheets/ towels. During the fantastic breakfast with omelettes to order & fresh Florida fruit and fresh home made bread... he explained from my information he had found a local source and he would drive me there after breakfast. It was during that alone time together that after probably my fifth round of profusely thanking him that I finally got up enough nerve to ask him why he was doing all this for us. 'I'm paying forward similar acts of kindness I've received,' was his answer. That he was extremely fortunate in business and frankly it felt very rewarding to give back. I've never forgotten him/ what he did for us. And, by his example, I have helped many others in similar gestures... and yes... it feels very good every time I help someone.


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[Rockyscience]

Originally Posted by captlloyd

Capt Lloyd coming to your defense here. While I am certainly in favor of random acts of kindness, the OP was pretty much out there. I think the problem here is, has the OP informed the boat owner that he wishes to do the owner a favor by cleaning his prop? I too would be upset if I saw someone doing something to my boat without notifying me.
If this is Random Act of Kindness Day, lets be kind.

You are correct Sir. We were in the Caribbean, on board and some new friends came over with some tools, said hello and jumped in to clean the waterline before our departing. We had weapons on board but thought a clean waterline was better than shooting them. It would be different if we were in Mass.
Thanks for being a person of reason.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by W3GAC

... As it turned out, this wasn't the CG or even a marina. We were led by a very generous owner of a 60' private dock behind his very highend house (mansion!) who turned out to be an early Microsoft SW engineer (employee # 9 I think) who was out fishing on his boat and heard our no response call. When we arrived his wife had a wonderful hot meal ready for us. During the dinner conversation he asked if I knew the make/ model # of freezer pump (I did) and they suggested we sleep in a bit and invited us join them for breakfast at 10a and bring all out laundry, including bed sheets/ towels. During the fantastic breakfast with omelettes to order & fresh Florida fruit and fresh home made bread... he explained from my information he had found a local source and he would drive me there after breakfast. It was during that alone time together that after probably my fifth round of profusely thanking him that I finally got up enough nerve to ask him why he was doing all this for us. 'I'm paying forward similar acts of kindness I've received,' was his answer. That he was extremely fortunate in business and frankly it felt very rewarding to give back. I've never forgotten him/ what he did for us. And, by his example, I have helped many others in similar gestures... and yes... it feels very good every time I help someone.

Very inspirational.