The difference between sailor and Sunday powerboat (told by a sailor)
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Some time ago I was frolicking in the typical Ligurian bonacce on the old Grand Soleil 39 that my father bought some time ago with his partners(HERE is the story of the purchase), Andrea and Giovanni. John himself, whose last name is Bruzzo, who is an established Bonelli cartoonist and a lifelong sailor, shared a family anecdote with me. A tale that shows the difference in thinking between a sailor and the classic “Sunday boatman.”
“My father,” John told me, “had hand-built himself a beautiful wooden sailboat a few meters long, he cared so much about it. At that time he used it to sail in the Gulf of Tigullio, which was beginning to be populated with fast speedboats. Often my father had found himself arguing with their owners who taunted him: ‘Belin, but what are you still going sailing? If I want to go to Portofino, I geek out and in five minutes I’m there. You take forever.
One day, Dad decided to challenge one of them: ‘Want to bet I can get to the most beautiful place before you?’ ‘But go ahead, where do you want to go in your little boat?’ The two shook hands; the challenge was issued. The motorman must have thought my father was crazy, but anyway he gave him an appointment on the pier of the Rapallo Nautical Club.
On the day of the challenge, the dock was packed with club members, curious about how it would turn out and especially to see if my father was still in it. There was also a judge there to verify that there were no entanglements. At the end of the pier were the two boats. My father’s speedboat and sailboat.
‘3,2,1 … go!” said the judge. Dad and his opponent splashed aboard their respective boats. As the latter prepared to start the engine, to reach the ‘most beautiful place’ (for him definitely Portofino), my father shouted, ‘Arrived. I have arrived! I won! He was indeed in the most beautiful place he could have wished for. He was aboard his little boat.”
Overt post: don’t let the “speed boaters” be upset by this story! There are yachtsmen who feel in paradise aboard their motor boat and sailors who use the boat only as a means, just like the gentleman protagonist of the story…
E.R.
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