If I hear it before I climb into my
bunk, I will go over and ask the skipper very nicely if I can help him stop the
noise. Often they are surprised that I am affected. How people can ignore that
noise on their own boats I don't know, but there seem to be plenty who can.
I'm not one of those who can sleep
through noise. I wake up if the wind changes direction, or the current swings
us around. I wake up if there are strange splashes outside on a dead-calm
night. I know it's probably fish jumping, but I have to get up and have a look.
If I don't get up, I keep listening — my ears are my night-time eyes — and if
all the sounds seem right I go back to sleep.
I have to admit there are a few
things I can tune out. The slap of
the wires inside my own my mast is one
of them It takes me a couple of nights at the start of a trip, but after that
it's okay. And yet the faintest slap of a neighbor's halyard always drives me
mad.
Many a time I have climbed aboard a
stranger's boat in a marina to silence a clanking halyard, and each time I've
wondered about the ethics of it. I know I'm taking chance in a society that is
trigger-happy about suing, but I plead in mitigation that it is unneighborly to
leave your halyards flapping so that they will annoy neighbors. I also offer
myself the solace that it is the seamanlike thing to do, as it would be to
rescue a flapping roller jib in a windstorm, or to push back a fender that had
popped up, so that the hull was rubbing against the pier.
I myself would be thankful if someone
saved my jib or my hull for me, and I wouldn't dream of suing if something went
wrong in a sincere attempt to put things right. The Good Samaritan laws can be
tricky, I know, but there are a couple of things you can do to protect yourself
if somebody's mast falls down after you tied back his halyards. First of all,
make sure no-one sees you in action. If there are other people around, wear a
wig, a ski-mask, or a balaclava helmet. Secondly, don't leave fingerprints.
Wear gloves. I find the best kind are those gardening gloves with the little
pimples.
Today's Thought
As for doing good, that is one of the professions that are full.
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden.Tailpiece
An apple a day will keep the doctor away. Well, at least your insides will be healthy if the insecticide is working.
(Drop by every Monday, Wednesday, Friday for a new Mainly about Boats column.)
