Hi Rodney,
when
cooper first started sailing he wasnt that keen on going out to the
boat because the
tender was a very old folding dingy and he simply didnt like the flopy floor. When we got to the
boat he soon relised that it was just like jumping up on the back of my ute. Problem
solved. We would wander out and I would say "get on the back" and up he would jump. UNTIL one night ....no not your dark and stormy kind, the exact oposite. Not a breath of
wind to stir the pond and a huge bright moon. The
water looked like shiny concrete. I said "get on the back" and
cooper decided that he was going to go for a little walk (perhaps to have a quick piss on the bow). So he deftly jumped over the side on to this hard shiny surface ...AND....it was at this point that after being together 24 - 7 for 10 years that I realised that I had never seen him properly swim !! There was no way that I could hall him back into the dingy so I quickly tied the painter onto his colar and gently rowed him back to shore. Boy was he bloody happy with himself. He always gets excited AFTER a bath but this was the ultimate. We went back out to the boat and he walked up the side (and has done ever since even though he is now nearly 14). I sort of stopped shaking and had a
beer. Istoped shaking and had a
beer I beer had a stop i shaking a beer had a stop i got pissed....