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Bertram31.com General Bulletin Board
Re: When
Posted By: Doug LeBlanc In Response To: Re: When (Chiles)
Date: Friday, 10 June 2005, at 11:38 a.m.
My grand father bought a 1926 38 Matthews in 1947 for $2K (a good chunk of change in those days). My dad was 16 or 17 and had essentially grown up at the yacht club that my grand father helped start in the early 30's. My dad had worked on his father's old boat evey spring and did the same for the "new" one in 1947.
Around 1957 or 1958, my father became the yard master at the club (a title he still holds today!). Sometime around 1969 or 1970, my grand father became too old to keep up the boat and gave it to my dad. That was the first time he let my dad (by this time about 38 or 39) take the boat out. I was born in 1968 and pretty much grew up down the club like my dad had.
Every spring, my job was to scrape, sand, puddy, and paint the bottom. Every summer, although I spent the majority of the time behind the wheel, he never let me take the boat into or out of a slip and never let me take it out alone. The only time I ever took the boat out of the slip was in the fall of 1997 (at the ripe old age of 29) to take it from the slip to the travel lift to haul out.
Unfortuantely, that was the last time the boat ever saw the water. As my dad got older and his son's started families of our own, he just couldn't keep up with the work and he wound up selling the boat (with its early 80's Volvo deisel) for $2K to a man who said he was going to restore the boat. 3 years later, the boat was cut up and dropped into a dumpster. A sad day.
Finally in 2000, I bought my first boat, a 1981 28 Bert. Other than small outboards and tenders, this was my first experience docking a large boat.
I know that both my dad and I could have run a boat much earlier than we did, but I guess control issues run in my family. While I don't have kids, I'm training my wife to run the boat and be a first mate (her job as admiral and supreme commander not withstanding). She does do a good job, but I'll admit I have trouble letting her take the wheel. She has taken the boat out of the slip a number of times (never alone) and we'll eventually get her to dock it as well.
Bottom line, if you trust your son, let him go. Just make sure your insurance is up to date!
Regards,
Doug L.
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