Epay Stories - 1975 Reinell 26 Sailboat Page 3

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  It was unfortunate that I came down with a bad cold in the week before we left. It made the last week in school difficult so there was no time for any more thoughts about the boat. Mom had to pack a bag for me with all the clothes for the trip. She woke me up at 5 am with a good hot breakfast. I took a cold pill so I would feel better. Uncle Fred pulled up in front of the house at 6 with the boat on its trailer behind. We stopped at the gas station on the way out of town. Uncle Fred handed me the tire gauge to check all the tires and fill them while he fueled up the truck. I didn't know the exact pressure for the trailer tires so I just filled them till they were very firm. It was going to be a long drive so I curled up against the door and went to sleep.

  The next thing I knew there was a loud bang and we were weaving back and forth on the road. Then there was another bang. I woke up very suddenly as Uncle Fred fought the truck and the trailer to the side of the road. First one of the trailer tires had blown out then the extra load on the others caused a second weak tire to blow out.. We were lucky to have avoided going out of control. There was a spare tire for the trailer, but I had not checked the pressure on this so it was too low to be used. Uncle Fred jacked up the trailer to remove one of the wheels then disconnected the trailer to drive to the nearest filling station to inflate the spare tire and buy a replacement for one of the blown tires.. I sat next to the boat trailer and slept until he came back. He replaced one burst tire, and hooked the trailer back to the truck. He also checked the pressure in all the other trailer tires. He said they were all very overinflated. I said I didn't know what the correct pressure should be. He pointed to the numbers embossed in the sides of the tires. I said it must have been the effect of the cold tablets that caused me to ignore that. We stopped at a cafe near the boat launch where we were going to put the boat in the water. I drank a large glass of iced tea to wake me up but also took another cold tablet to overcome the cold symptoms. I listened to him drone on about the joys of sailing but it was in a half slumber.

  "Ernie, most things in life involve degrees: degrees of comfort, degrees of effort, degrees of security. For example, in transportation you can go from Los Angeles to New York by bicycle or by jet airplane. There are pros and cons for each one. It all depends on what the reason for your trip is and what your goal in making the trip is. There are an enormous number of factors involved in making the decision. It's vary similar with recreational travel. You can hike and backpack or you can fly to a resort and sit next to the ocean on a lounge chair with a bar boy bringing you drinks. Both have their advantages and neither is wrong. It is a matter of personal choice."

  "Yes, Uncle Fred, but there is also a big difference in the cost."

  "You're right, Ernie, but the extra costs may not always be where you expect them to be. If you spend a lot of money on new gear for the hike and then fly off to Austria to hike, the beach trip could end up costing less than the hiking trip. So it's not always obvious which is the best alternative. Take camping itself. You've gone camping with your family. What did you do? What equipment did you have?"

  "Dad bought a big tent, a propane lamp and stove, and lots of sleeping bags. Then some other small things, but nothing that cost much money. We drove in the car and stayed at state parks. It was fine as long as the weather was good. When we got to the campsite and set everything up, we went hiking around the park. Dad took a lot of pictures and Mom painted some watercolors. I listed the different kinds of trees for a science report. After we cooked canned and dried food for dinner we sat and looked at the stars with a small telescope Dad brought along."

  "So it was not a lot of expensive gear. You loaded it in a car you already owned so the only major cost there was the fuel. Then there were the camping fees which are set at reasonable levels to make it attractive to families. The food you would have had to buy anyway."

  "Ernie, do you know anybody whose family has an RV, a recreational vehicle like a Winnebago or a Gulf Stream?"

  "Yes, in fact one of my friends bought a used Gulf Stream a couple years ago. They were really excited and took it across the country the first summer. But after that they only used it a couple times. I asked my friend why they did not take it out more often. He said his father said for just a weekend it was not worth the trouble. There were a lot of small things that needed to be repaired from the previous trip. The cost of fuel was so high that it did not make sense to just drive it to someplace close. So it was parked at a storage lot waiting for next summer when they would plan a long trip."

  "That's very interesting, Ernie, because most boat owners say the same things. The larger the boat, the more there is to maintain. Fuel costs are high for boats, too. That is part of the reason I bought a small sailboat. Most of the time you do not need to use a motor. There are fewer things to repair. Having said that, any boat requires a lot of maintenance. All the materials are exposed to weather including bright sunlight. Everything deteriorates. Some parts more than others. Sails have to be kept clean and dry or they will rot. The wood parts must be varnished to prevent rot. The metal parts are subject to corrosion. Yes, a boat can be an expensive hobby. I know some guys who have a group that owns the boat so they can share the costs. Most people do not want to use it all the time so it is easy to arrange for different people to have it on different weekends."

  "Then why did you buy this rather than join a club?"

  "I might still form a club but for the time being I have not spent much money on it so I can keep it for myself."

  "Tell me something, Uncle Fred. If you don't believe in power boats, why didn't you just buy a canoe? Then there are no problems with motors, no noise, no fuel. Everything is simpler."

  "You're right, Ernie. Look at it this way. Small power boats did not come into use until about a hundred years ago. Canoes are only a little bit more advanced than rafts. They require a lot of physical effort to move them through the water. But water craft with sails have been used for thousands of years. It is a pretty well advanced means of transportation where you can take advantage of nature's winds to do most of the work without having sophisticated equipment. A lot of the materials for sailing craft have been improved in the last fifty or hundred years, but the basic skills of sailing are pretty much the same as they were thousands of years ago. Once you learn those skills, you are ready to sail a lot of vessels."

  "You feeling hungry? There seem to be some decent looking cafes along this stretch."

  "Yeah, Uncle Fred, it's been a long time since breakfast."

  "OK, let's stop at this place. It's got a large flat parking lot so we shouldn't have to worry about trailer flipping over and I won't have to back it out."

  There were a number of trucks parked in front which Uncle Fred said was a good sign. "If working men who come by here regularly stop to eat here, we probably don't have to worry about food poisoning and the prices should be reasonable."

  We parked the truck and boat where it would be easy to drive out, then went in. We took a table next to the window. A waitress came over with glasses of water and two menus.

  "Something to drink?"

  "Iced tea for both of us but not sweet, Ernie's too sweet already."

  "Is your pa right, Ernie? Are you too sweet already?"

  "He's not my father, he's my uncle."

  "Well, Ernie, if you blush any redder you're gonna look like a cherry pie without the crust. Look over the menus. I'll be back in a minute with your tea and to take your orders. We've got some really good pork tenderloin today."

  Uncle Fred laughed at me. "She won't bite you, Ernie."

  "Yeah, Uncle Fred, I know that, but if she did I might like it." He laughed again as the waitress retuned with the iced tea. Uncle Fred looked at her name tag.

  "Helen. Are you the Helen of Troy that launched a thousand ships?"

  The waitress smiled and tilted her head slightly to the side. "No, I'm Helen of Pierceville
. I haven't launched any ships but I've kept a lot of loveboats rockin'," she said with a smirk.

  Both Uncle Fred and I laughed.

  "That's great, Helen. You say the pork tenderloin is good but is it really tender?" She hesitated a moment then looked at me and said, "As tender as your nephew Ernie here."

  I could feel my face getting redder. "Yes, ma'am, I'll take that, too, with the red beans and rice."

  She wrote down the order and walked away.

  Uncle Fred was in the Navy when he got out of high school. He said he only was on a ship for a short time but he likes to let people know he was in the Navy so he wears a cap with the name of the ship he was on embroidered on it. Both my father and Uncle Fred were pretty bald by the time they were thirty. Uncle Fred shaves his head so the Navy cap keeps his head from becoming too sunburned.

  A couple big young guys in coveralls walked in and sat at the table next to us. One of them looked over and saw Uncle Fred's cap. "Say, Admiral, how's the food here?" he asked with a big grin.

  "I'll let you know when we try it. Were you in the Navy?"

  "No, Marines, but we rode on some of your boats. I preferred the land myself."

  "I agree with you. I didn't spend any more time at sea than I had to. I was in Logistics and managed to get posted near Naples in Italy. I