Membership of this elite cruising club is usually a well guarded secret, although when discussed among the "yachtie" community, it is a surprisingly well patronised club! Membership to this club is usually granted very suddenly, unrequested, and accompanied by an extremely wide range of emotions. These emotions cover the full orbit from Hilarity, through Mirth and Chuckles, via Care and Concern, too Full on Rage.... Depending upon the circumstances and perspective. Whether one is a bystander/spectator, a participant, or a brand new member.
How exactly does one qualify for membership to such an exclusive club? Is it expensive? The answers two these questions are...Very easily.... and Sometimes!!! Membership is automatically confered on all those who cannot resist the urge to take a quick swim, fully clothed, in that small, but usually widening gap, between the yacht tender and the Yacht or Jetty. Membership is often accompanied by much shouting and screaming, culminating in laughter when the new member is found to be safe and unharmed!
Most new members choose Individual Membership, but this is not always the case, and it is not unheard of for entire crews to become members simultaneously. Chris and Helen Hull chose this strategy when boarding their tender at the restuarant jetty in Ubitubinha. After a very festive meal, Chris manouvered the tender alongside, and leaned over to hold onto the jetty at precisely the same moment that Helen chose to board. With their combined weight on one pontoon, the tender squirted out like a bar of soap in a shower, and landed perfectly safely, the right way up, on top of my Tinker. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the two new members of the Cormorant Club, who were very busy playing the Blame Game while splashing around next to the jetty in their going out clothes! Apart from expensive dents to their pride and wet wallets, cellphones, and digital cameras also joined the club with more expensive consequences. Women can usually recover their dignity much more quickly than men. A common ploy is for them to claim, with nipples erect from either shock or cold, that they have always wanted to enter a wet T-Shirt competition, but have never had the courage! Men dont often have such a convenient excuse on hand.
Mary's membership, however, is somewhat debateable. Normally one is either a full member, or a non Member.These are the circumstances, and her membership qualification will have to be put to the vote. We had been invited to dinner on "Jervon". We had also been asked by Fransisco to look after his tender while he had taken a ferry into Angra to sort out his visa problems. His tender was tied on to Sheer Tenacity just behind the boarding ladder, which meant that our position relative to the ladder was a little different when we returned after dinner. Having climbed in and out of Tinker a thousand times, Mary was perhaps a little "casual" when standing up and grabbing the ladder, and unaware that we were a teeny bit further away than normal. ( Caiperinha's are a well know cause of casualness in Brazil!)
Tinker widened the gap, and Mary was left hanging on to the ladder, with a midrif waterline. She was therefore denied even the wet t-shirt excuse ! Now you can't be a Half Member of the Club ! Mary says she only applied for Temporary Membership, but others might say she qualifies as a Country Member! It will have to be put to the vote!
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