Hotwife earns a new nickname!

Getting the boat out of the slip and onto the water is my own best medicine,,,,especially when I can take a deep breath and not do all the work! 

On Monday of the Labor Day Weekend, we shipped the kids to Grandma’s and kept the dog in day care so that we could focus on running the boat (getting engine hours).  Seems like such an easy task to most people but when you’ve had electrical and other challenges, you want to be able to focus on everything without kids and dog.  And,,,,Hotwife had agreed that this was a good day for her to learn to run the boat,,,,,on and off our dock and the fuel docks.  This makes for sailor nightmares.  Getting a 50+ foot sailboat boat with an 8-foot draft and heavy displacement off and on a slip, under power.  I’ve read lots of other blogs about folks who didn’t want to operate their own boats because of these issues,,,,and overcoming this fear is a big deal to most.  BUT,,,,steering and maneuvering a boat takes finesse,,,,,some got it and some don’t.  Hotwife’s got it and did VERY well on the helm.  Our super-sharp broker from Yachtfinders-Windseakers came along for a day trip with us,,,,and the two of them kicked me out of the doghouse to allow Hotwife to learn from him.  This isn’t a reflection on our relationship (,,,,wait,,,,yes it is); but sometimes she listens to other’s better than me.  And I already mentioned that she’s got finesse.  I’m a bit less,,,,,polished!  Needless to say, with his calm guidance, Hotwife was able to get the boat out of the slip, onto and off the fuel docks and do multiple touch/go’s into and out of our own slip without incident.  I hate to admit it,,,,,but she probably did better than I could have done.  That’s ok,,,,it was an awesome day on the water and I loved it.

Even as a licensed Captain and Master and with some time on boats under my belt,,,practice makes perfect.  Our big ol Aleutian Ketch moves much differently than our previous Hunter 460,,,,but it just takes a bit of practice and acknowledgment that things ARE going to feel different.

So,,,,,because Hotwife rocked the day and there was no yelling or screaming or drama on her many touch and go’s,,,,,I decided she earned a new nickname.  From now on,,,,it’s Admiral Hotwife.  But we may shorten to Hotwife for the sake of brevity in our posts.

Also,,,,Happy Birthday Admiral Hotwife (today’s her birthday).