The boat doctor

If Alex would have got paid for each time he's guided or helped people with their boats and their equipment, we would be rich and have that dodger on our boat long time ago. He's like a traveling sailboat doctor, and boat and sailing wikipedia in one, working pro bono in 80% of the cases. But on the other hand, we have cashed in several new friendships this way, and quite a few free drinks and dinners hehe.. No but honestly, I've lost counting on all those boats he's rescued, rigs he tensioned (on this particular Philip L. Rhodes Bounty II that is our neighbor today for example), hulls he repaired, people he taught about fiberglass fabrication, gearbox/fuel system repairs, electrical connections and installments and other general know-how he's shared. It also helps that he's fluent in all the major sailing languages around here, French, English and Spanish.

I really hate being the silly wife continuously bragging about her oh so fantastic husband cause I know how nerdy and pretentious it sounds (we're not even married but you get the point), and truth be told my man has many flaws, too, just to let you know, but if we keep to the subject, he has as a matter of fact been the lifesaver of many a boat-owner and somehow we always seem to attract people in need of assistance around us.

One evening in Prickly Bay in Grenada a few months ago for example, just when our friend Michael had arrived if you remember, and we had just enjoyed a filthy little peanut-butter cup dinner the three of us if my memory doesn't fail me, we heard a big BANG on the hull. What the fuck?! We all rushed out, only to find a 40 something feet catamaran dragging its mooring buoy in the 30+ winds that were that night, hitting our hull and continuing to drag backward into several other boats on its way, quickly closing in on the reef behind.

Alex, the fast thinking alien that he always is when it comes to this sort of drama, jumped into our dinghy, shot off to the rapidly dragging cat, jumped onto the bow, grabbed a couple fenders, set them up for following shocks, grabbed the next boat at anchor that the cat passed by, secured the cat in this other boat and got the engine started (owners had forgot to switch off the starter battery). All to avoid the catamaran destroying more boats and itself on the way towards the merciless reefs just a hundred meter away. This was a pitch dark night, 30+ wind and all this action happened within five minutes of the crash into our boat. Of course the owners of the catamaran who were ashore dining this evening were very happy to find their boat safely anchored a bit further down the bay, very close but not quite on the reef, just like we would have been if it would have happened to us. At sea it is so very important to be alert, and as devastating accidents can happen to anyone, we must always look out for the ones that are in need of assistance. You remember the last time something dramatic happened to us? So thankful we got the help we needed in just the right moment.