Marblehead Chapter 3 (Very long)
Jul. 11th, 2003 09:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anigoOk, from here on in, this is going to be mostly bits and pieces of memory.
Supper the first night (Thursday.) We walked around Marblehead poking into stores, mostly on the mission to try to find somebody to fix our autopilot which got zapped during the thunder storm. (It would hold course just fine, until you tried to adjust it 5 degrees or so, and then it would alter course by 180 degrees at random - not a good thing in an autopilot.) We discussed (verging on arguing) about where to go for supper. We were tired, we were hungry, etc. etc. etc. eventually we ended up at Maddies (Maddies is the local sailor hangout. You don't go to Marblehead without having a "dark and stormy" (dark rum and ginger beer) at Maddies) with just the intention of having a bite to eat One drink lead to the next, lead to the next, and eventually we were all pretty sloshed. Somebody came up to the table and Shane introduced us. Thom, Steve, Pete... and me... the "token woman"!!! Steve said my face just froze. "Back up the bus" says I. "token woman?" says I. I was pretty darn ticked, let me tell you. I hauled my ass out of my berth just as often as any guy did (and with less whining). I pulled ropes, and got wet, and went to the foredeck with waves crashing around to flake sails and EVERYTHING, just as much as any of them did, probably even more, if anybody was counting. I am NOT a token woman. (I might add, the dark and stormys didn't hurt when it came to getting me riled.) We had a good scrap about that (with the rest of the crew on my side) and then Pete and I left. I'm ashamed to say (again) the dark and stormys (aided by the lack of sleep) certanly had my emotions going, I was quite upset about the whole thing. I really felt like I wasn't part of the team. (Ok, so I *am* a girl.. I can have girly emotions sometimes) Pete was really good about the whole thing, and tried to convince me that I was, and Shane was being a jerk. We walked and talked for quite a while. In the morning I met Shane outside of the bathroom and he apologized. I told him he was forgiven. Later that evening I told him the only reason he was forgiven was because during the scrap the night before he had backtracked and said that not only was I NOT the token woman, I was FEARLESS (this from Shane is a complement, as there is nobody as Fearless (or nuts) as he is, in my point of view. I rather look up to him on the boat. We're both adrenaline junkies, and I think he finally recognized it in me. In a way it finally felt like acceptance.) He said that he wasn't the only one who thought that, but "that was all he was saying about that". And we went to sleep.
Oh, speaking of sleep, let's talk about sleeping arrangements for a moment. We stayed at this FANTASTIC bed and breakfast. There were two rooms upstairs (one with two twin beds and one with a queen size bed) and one down (with a king size bed and a cot). Thom had the one downstairs with Big Steve, and the first night I had the queen size bed and Shane and Pete had the two twins. The next night the rest of the crew arrived so there were 8 of us. Pete slept on the boat, Ron, Thom and Steve had the room with the king and the cot, and Carl and Terry shared the queen size bed. That left me and shane in the two twins - hence the Feerless discussion) I'd say it was intimate, but that would give the wrong impression. We shared a really neet PLUTONIC bond that evening. Very cool. I only try to explain this here for anybody who's reading it, because if I just typed it the way it was, it would sound different than it was. Ok, enough. I know what it means.
Another random thought. The night of the "token woman" conmment, Thom got rather drunk and fell down, landed on a flower box, and hurt his shoulder pretty badly. The next morning the lady who ran the bed and breakfast and I took him to the hospital in Salem. It turned out he tore three ligaments in his shoulder and the doctor recommended he not race home. (Shyeah, like that's going tho happen.) We didn't have a car at that point (Terry, Carl and Ron had still not arrived.) so I tried to get Carl on his cell phone. I left a message and then turned my cell phone off. When I finally got a hold of him I said "sorry, I wasn't allowed to keep my cell phone on in that section of the hosptial" Carl, at this point, was completely unaware of what had happened. His response was... "hospital?" After he freeked out a bit, we all ended up back at the b&b. Carl said there was some discussion about me taking Thom's place and Thom driving home (but hell hadn't frozen over, so that didn't happen). Thom had a bunch of painkillers and a sling, and that was that.
One other thing of interest that happened that evening was that we went (again) to Maddies that evening - Carl, Shane, Terry, Steve and me. It was July 4th and the place was PACKED. Somebody threw up on my shoes when I tried to get to the washroom. I didn't have too much to drink that night, as the night before I didn't remember taking my contacts out, and I thought that was rather a stupid thing to do in a country other than the one you usually live in. We closed the place down and they bascially had to kick us out. I stole a glass in my purse filled with a dark and stormy. When we got outside, I said "token women carry token purses" and pulled out the drink. We stumbled around marblehead for a while. Big Steve fell down and knocked Terry down in the process, just as a police car was driving by. The police man stopped and asked if everything was ok, and then just kept going (thank goodness!) Everybody (me included!) peed in the bushes (token woman *THAT*) and we went home. Surprisingly, one of the crew (who will remain namless) sort of made a pass at me that evening. I wasn't expecting it, and it went nowhere, but it was very good for my ego. He apologized for it the next day. (I see an apology pattern developing here.)
The next day - Shopping.
In the morning, Thom, Ron and I went to get groceries to prepare for the race. After that, Shane and Carl and I went shopping. First we went to a hardware store to get dowelling to make leacloths to hold the sails when we were underway. Shane and Carl came out with two pieces of dowell, each about a metre long. Along the sidewalk they did their light sabre routine. It was hilarous and the town of marblehead thought we were nuts. We only continued to prove them right. Next was the toy store. Carl bought his two boys Thomas The Tank Engine toys and I bought Jess a doll with the American Flag on her shirt. Whilst in the toy store we acted very much like children. We bought this mechanical arm thing for grabbing beer on the boat (or helping Thom with his gimp arm) (More hilarity) and eventually I bought three helium balloons for the three of us. Or rather, I attempted to buy three helium balloons, the woman just gave them to us in the end. Weather it was because she liked us or she just wanted us out of her store, I don't know. Then Carl went across the street to the drugstore (his balloon popped on the way) and Shane and I started to wait outside for him. We quickly tired of that, and went into the drugstore to find him - inhaling the helium and calling his name in chipmunk voices. Carl bought toothpaste and water and I paid for it with the mechanical hand. Then we walked down the street until we got to a lemonaid stand - where we drank lemonaid with the mechanical hand. We ate subs with hot peppers and got icecream and I got new deckshoes, and Carl bought a new watch, we all bought rope bracelets, Shane bought a book, it was just a really fun, carefree, (somewhat expensive) day. Later we went to the Yacht club because we were going to tune the boat for the race the next day. We ran into Terry there who said that the boys would be back at 2:00 - so we hung around until about 2:45 when we got impatient... wait now.. it was just me, Carl and Terry, at some point Shane split up from us. Oh, Carl and I spent most of the time trying to get his new watch to fit his arm. Anyway. At 2:45 we got impatient and then realized that everybody was already on the boat waiting for us. We went out and tuned up the boat and I had a great sail. I did both the pit and the jib trim. (which are my two favorite spots) Afterwards Terry said that next Marblehead I'd be driving the boat myself. "pshaw" says I, but he said that I'd really impressed him and that any time I was looking for a boat to sail on, I would always find a place on his. (Rereading it it sounds kinda trivial, but at the time it was quite a compliment!)
So On this trip I've had Pete telling me that I'm part of the crew, I've had Shane tell me that he (and others) think I'm fearless, I've had Terry tell me that I've impressed him and that I could sail with him any time, and I've had the aforementioned unnamed incident. By the end of this trip my ego was WAY UP THERE!.
Kay, enough for tonight, but there's so much more. There's 7 of us driving around Marblehead in Thom's Izuzu Trooper (me laying across the guys in the back seat) with a big bright orange parking ticket on the window the whole while singing Tweeter and the Monkey Man at the top of our lungs. There's finding a really decent italian restaruant for the last meal before the race, and then almost falling asleep in the meal. There's carl being the "medical guy" on the boat and refusing to look at Big Steve's torn fingernail. There's me being Doctor Gina in the men's washroom and putting a bandaid on Shane's foot only to step outside the washroom and announce that Shane is the proud papa of a 10 pound baby boy. There's the Thai restaurant that woudn't serve us liquor (and can you blame them?)
Lord, what a trip.
Supper the first night (Thursday.) We walked around Marblehead poking into stores, mostly on the mission to try to find somebody to fix our autopilot which got zapped during the thunder storm. (It would hold course just fine, until you tried to adjust it 5 degrees or so, and then it would alter course by 180 degrees at random - not a good thing in an autopilot.) We discussed (verging on arguing) about where to go for supper. We were tired, we were hungry, etc. etc. etc. eventually we ended up at Maddies (Maddies is the local sailor hangout. You don't go to Marblehead without having a "dark and stormy" (dark rum and ginger beer) at Maddies) with just the intention of having a bite to eat One drink lead to the next, lead to the next, and eventually we were all pretty sloshed. Somebody came up to the table and Shane introduced us. Thom, Steve, Pete... and me... the "token woman"!!! Steve said my face just froze. "Back up the bus" says I. "token woman?" says I. I was pretty darn ticked, let me tell you. I hauled my ass out of my berth just as often as any guy did (and with less whining). I pulled ropes, and got wet, and went to the foredeck with waves crashing around to flake sails and EVERYTHING, just as much as any of them did, probably even more, if anybody was counting. I am NOT a token woman. (I might add, the dark and stormys didn't hurt when it came to getting me riled.) We had a good scrap about that (with the rest of the crew on my side) and then Pete and I left. I'm ashamed to say (again) the dark and stormys (aided by the lack of sleep) certanly had my emotions going, I was quite upset about the whole thing. I really felt like I wasn't part of the team. (Ok, so I *am* a girl.. I can have girly emotions sometimes) Pete was really good about the whole thing, and tried to convince me that I was, and Shane was being a jerk. We walked and talked for quite a while. In the morning I met Shane outside of the bathroom and he apologized. I told him he was forgiven. Later that evening I told him the only reason he was forgiven was because during the scrap the night before he had backtracked and said that not only was I NOT the token woman, I was FEARLESS (this from Shane is a complement, as there is nobody as Fearless (or nuts) as he is, in my point of view. I rather look up to him on the boat. We're both adrenaline junkies, and I think he finally recognized it in me. In a way it finally felt like acceptance.) He said that he wasn't the only one who thought that, but "that was all he was saying about that". And we went to sleep.
Oh, speaking of sleep, let's talk about sleeping arrangements for a moment. We stayed at this FANTASTIC bed and breakfast. There were two rooms upstairs (one with two twin beds and one with a queen size bed) and one down (with a king size bed and a cot). Thom had the one downstairs with Big Steve, and the first night I had the queen size bed and Shane and Pete had the two twins. The next night the rest of the crew arrived so there were 8 of us. Pete slept on the boat, Ron, Thom and Steve had the room with the king and the cot, and Carl and Terry shared the queen size bed. That left me and shane in the two twins - hence the Feerless discussion) I'd say it was intimate, but that would give the wrong impression. We shared a really neet PLUTONIC bond that evening. Very cool. I only try to explain this here for anybody who's reading it, because if I just typed it the way it was, it would sound different than it was. Ok, enough. I know what it means.
Another random thought. The night of the "token woman" conmment, Thom got rather drunk and fell down, landed on a flower box, and hurt his shoulder pretty badly. The next morning the lady who ran the bed and breakfast and I took him to the hospital in Salem. It turned out he tore three ligaments in his shoulder and the doctor recommended he not race home. (Shyeah, like that's going tho happen.) We didn't have a car at that point (Terry, Carl and Ron had still not arrived.) so I tried to get Carl on his cell phone. I left a message and then turned my cell phone off. When I finally got a hold of him I said "sorry, I wasn't allowed to keep my cell phone on in that section of the hosptial" Carl, at this point, was completely unaware of what had happened. His response was... "hospital?" After he freeked out a bit, we all ended up back at the b&b. Carl said there was some discussion about me taking Thom's place and Thom driving home (but hell hadn't frozen over, so that didn't happen). Thom had a bunch of painkillers and a sling, and that was that.
One other thing of interest that happened that evening was that we went (again) to Maddies that evening - Carl, Shane, Terry, Steve and me. It was July 4th and the place was PACKED. Somebody threw up on my shoes when I tried to get to the washroom. I didn't have too much to drink that night, as the night before I didn't remember taking my contacts out, and I thought that was rather a stupid thing to do in a country other than the one you usually live in. We closed the place down and they bascially had to kick us out. I stole a glass in my purse filled with a dark and stormy. When we got outside, I said "token women carry token purses" and pulled out the drink. We stumbled around marblehead for a while. Big Steve fell down and knocked Terry down in the process, just as a police car was driving by. The police man stopped and asked if everything was ok, and then just kept going (thank goodness!) Everybody (me included!) peed in the bushes (token woman *THAT*) and we went home. Surprisingly, one of the crew (who will remain namless) sort of made a pass at me that evening. I wasn't expecting it, and it went nowhere, but it was very good for my ego. He apologized for it the next day. (I see an apology pattern developing here.)
The next day - Shopping.
In the morning, Thom, Ron and I went to get groceries to prepare for the race. After that, Shane and Carl and I went shopping. First we went to a hardware store to get dowelling to make leacloths to hold the sails when we were underway. Shane and Carl came out with two pieces of dowell, each about a metre long. Along the sidewalk they did their light sabre routine. It was hilarous and the town of marblehead thought we were nuts. We only continued to prove them right. Next was the toy store. Carl bought his two boys Thomas The Tank Engine toys and I bought Jess a doll with the American Flag on her shirt. Whilst in the toy store we acted very much like children. We bought this mechanical arm thing for grabbing beer on the boat (or helping Thom with his gimp arm) (More hilarity) and eventually I bought three helium balloons for the three of us. Or rather, I attempted to buy three helium balloons, the woman just gave them to us in the end. Weather it was because she liked us or she just wanted us out of her store, I don't know. Then Carl went across the street to the drugstore (his balloon popped on the way) and Shane and I started to wait outside for him. We quickly tired of that, and went into the drugstore to find him - inhaling the helium and calling his name in chipmunk voices. Carl bought toothpaste and water and I paid for it with the mechanical hand. Then we walked down the street until we got to a lemonaid stand - where we drank lemonaid with the mechanical hand. We ate subs with hot peppers and got icecream and I got new deckshoes, and Carl bought a new watch, we all bought rope bracelets, Shane bought a book, it was just a really fun, carefree, (somewhat expensive) day. Later we went to the Yacht club because we were going to tune the boat for the race the next day. We ran into Terry there who said that the boys would be back at 2:00 - so we hung around until about 2:45 when we got impatient... wait now.. it was just me, Carl and Terry, at some point Shane split up from us. Oh, Carl and I spent most of the time trying to get his new watch to fit his arm. Anyway. At 2:45 we got impatient and then realized that everybody was already on the boat waiting for us. We went out and tuned up the boat and I had a great sail. I did both the pit and the jib trim. (which are my two favorite spots) Afterwards Terry said that next Marblehead I'd be driving the boat myself. "pshaw" says I, but he said that I'd really impressed him and that any time I was looking for a boat to sail on, I would always find a place on his. (Rereading it it sounds kinda trivial, but at the time it was quite a compliment!)
So On this trip I've had Pete telling me that I'm part of the crew, I've had Shane tell me that he (and others) think I'm fearless, I've had Terry tell me that I've impressed him and that I could sail with him any time, and I've had the aforementioned unnamed incident. By the end of this trip my ego was WAY UP THERE!.
Kay, enough for tonight, but there's so much more. There's 7 of us driving around Marblehead in Thom's Izuzu Trooper (me laying across the guys in the back seat) with a big bright orange parking ticket on the window the whole while singing Tweeter and the Monkey Man at the top of our lungs. There's finding a really decent italian restaruant for the last meal before the race, and then almost falling asleep in the meal. There's carl being the "medical guy" on the boat and refusing to look at Big Steve's torn fingernail. There's me being Doctor Gina in the men's washroom and putting a bandaid on Shane's foot only to step outside the washroom and announce that Shane is the proud papa of a 10 pound baby boy. There's the Thai restaurant that woudn't serve us liquor (and can you blame them?)
Lord, what a trip.
