Dumb Questions Or Comments Aboard Yachts

[leftbrainstuff]

Originally Posted by StuM

Or the suppliers who require a street address and won't ship to a Post Office box, but only use postal services for delivery.

I too am constantly amazed at the stupidity of that one. Thank goodness for ups stores who solve that problem. Even when the shipper leaves the box number of the address the ups guys can still find us.

The quasi democracy afforded us by the internet has given us many ways to beat the idiots (aka buearacracy, big corporations and government departments).

Of course for those times we're forced to follow the stupid rules we all suffer the inefficiencies and unnecessary expense.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[pistarckle]

We did daysails out of St. John ,V.I. for more than ten years , a common question was ' will you stop each time the color of the water changes so we can collect the different colors to take home .
Or , do these islands go all the way to the bottom ?

[atoll]

got a call from some bareboat charter clients,whilst working for sunsail.

"can you send some more Anchors ,we are on day 3 of the charter and you only gave us 2 anchors".................

[Wonderinlost]

^^^^^^^ hahahahaaa. Hope they paid a good deposit.

I could imagine someone asking looking at the boat's name and say "do I write the check out to (insert vessel name)?

It's happened to me towing. The tilt tray or flatbed was made by Jerr-Dan. And that's what they asked me.

wandering and wondering around with no destionation

[captain58sailin]

Whilst running fishing charters, I was once asked "Does that rock go all the way to the bottom?" With regards to mail, more than one green crewman has been sent to the bow for "mail buoy" watch. I never did it, but I know those who have.

[captainbri]

Originally Posted by GeoPowers

Haha! We have gotten the same question before, with the same answer. The next comment was "Oh, I thought because we were in the Bay it would be different". Good stuff. There's been a bunch over the years, but I haven't had all my coffee yet. A few that come to mind-

- I was telling a co-worker that I was going down to Charleston, SC for the weekend, but would be back for work on Monday. The co-worker asks "Oh, that'll be nice, are you going down in your sailboat?" (It's about 500 miles each way.)

- "So, can you make your own diesel onboard?"

- "Where's your dishwasher?"

Frank

Im looking at the dish washer would be my reply

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[El Pinguino]

Back when I had a day job...

Passenger ' how do you see where you are going at night without headlights'

Passenger, first night out of Capetown ' I want some stamps so I can post a letter'
Purser, 'we will be selling stamps next week - before we arrive in Las Palmas'
Passenger' but I want to post my letter today..'

Afrikaaner down from the veldt..... sightseeing in Durban... 'whats that big red and black box on top of the ship'

Dirt-dweller in NYC on discovering that we were off a ship 'Wow, I knew ships carried fruit and vegetables and stuff... but I didn't know they had people on them....!'

[Kindred Spirits]

We went to the Melbourne Boat Show and encountered a funny situation.

We were walking along the dock in the Beneteau area and were not very interested, but I overheard a conversation that has had me giggling. It involved a 'wannabee' wearing a blue striped rugby top and expensive boat shoes that had never seen the water, who was accompanied by a 'pretty thing' girlfriend. The other party to the conversation was the Beneteau salesman, who was sitting on the transom, which was firmly secured to the jetty. It went something like this:

Wannabee: Just how windy is it today?

Salesman: The wind instrument here just clocked 40 knots!

Wannabee: Yes, but is that true wind or apparent wind?

I didn't hear the salesman's reply (I was too busy laughing), but I hope it was "Well that depends whether Sir is a real sailor, or an apparent one.

[chuckr]

we have had a few to many to remember but these stick out the most

while in new england we were drinking with a sight seeing capt and he started tell stories of what passangers ask

1. why are all the boats in this harbor pointed in the same directions -- answer there is a city ordance that if the are not pointed in the same direction they get a ticket

2. what time does the 8 oclock ferry leave -- answer oh about 8 oclock

3. wow -- you guys sure must be in big drought -- look how low the water is -- answer -- the capt - a young guy - said he just could not think of anything so just said yep

that does not include our mail, where we stopped at night when crossing the atlantic, how do we eat - ie where do we get our food and how do we cook it,
how do you know where you are - why don't you have a telephone (we only have one if we are waiting out hurricane season in one location or wintering over)
now many times have you seen pirates or how do you deal with all the pirates -

as for the pirates -- and some times i am a convincing story teller - i told one couple that we actually saw the Black Pearl and capt jack sparrow -- they actually asked where was it and was it safe - the story i wove was a bit longer and full of details and i wander off leaving them think that i actually saw the black pearl --

as for where we stopped on the atlantic crossing -- again it is all in the story telling - like a good salesman selling snake oil -- we conviced a couple that there is a string of boattels across the atlantic that you pull into and dock for the night

it is all in the salesmanship of the story and i get a kick out of it --seeing how good a story i can weave -- patty on the other hand listens and when they look at her she just nods but afterwards gives me heck for leading them on

[s/v Beth]

My favorite was heard up in Alaska. A tourist asked the captain what they did with these huge calving glaciers during the winter. He replied (with a straight and serious face) "ma'am, these glaciers are on loan to us from Canada. We have to haul them back by truck every fall"
She nodded approvingly, knowing that her sightseeing fees were going to such a good cause.

[tdominic_97]

I was installing a boat hoist on a lake up in Michigan. The customer (who was a surgeon) told me to be careful how I set it. He didn't think the water was level.

[atoll]

whilst working for Sunsail we got another call from a bare boat client on the vhf.

"sunsail base,we are a bit worried we have had this yacht following us very closely for the last 2 hours,every time we change course he changes course...........

at the same time we also had a call from another one of our boats..........

"sunsail base ,we are a bit worried but we went ashore this morning a few hours ago and now our boat is missing........

turns out when we arrived on scene in the chase boat,the first caller had dropped back after pulling anchor ,with their dinghy on a long line astern,the dinghy had inadvertantly,drifted and caught the other boats anchor rode across the the dinghys bow and as the yacht in front left, pulled the anchor up ,towing the vessel behind!

[ontherocks83]

My favorite is seeing all the rental boats pass on the wrong side of markers. Most are lucky but occasionally one stops abruptly and starts frantically waving for help as they can't figure out where there outdrive disappeared to.

[mottseng]

My, I wonder what questions you asked when you knew nothing????

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by mottseng

My, I wonder what questions you asked when you knew nothing????

Asked lots..... but I hope there weren't too many dumb ones in the mix....