Ahoy Matey

Just so you don't think I am the only person in our family who excelled at faux paus let me tell you about the time Dave managed to pull a friends baby halfway up the mast of our 27 ft sail boat. OH YES...that was a real fun day. These folks were first time parents and EXTREMELY protective so you can imagine how thrilled they were to have their precious offspring yanked off their lap and run up the mast. All of you who have more than one child know that our standards tend to relax, probably not relaxed enough to allow your friend to wrap a rope around your baby and yank him 10 ft up in the air, but at some point you do stop washing the dog in Purell. One of Dave's co-workers loved to sail and finally managed to convince his nervous wife (never sailed, not fond of water) that it was perfectly safe for them to spend the day with us at the lake. Foolish, foolish man. In Dave's defense he invested in the best baby size life jacket and a baby water float but in retrospect a concrete block would have been the wiser purchase. It was a perfect day to be at the lake..blue sky, light breeze and the water was warm enough for swimming. Our friends met us at the dock and after donning our life vests Dave heads to the main part of the lake. A not too strong steady breeze...great day for a first time sailor. Dave told the parents that he was going to raise the main sail and we will be going a bit faster so they should shift over to the "high side" of the boat. Well...somehow as the happy little family shifted to the other side of the boat the main sail line tangled in the baby's life jacket just as Dave put his full weight on the line to raise the sail.....soooo the baby went up right along with the sail. The mother screamed, the baby shot halfway up the mast and I thought poor Dave would have a heart attack. Well, the baby was quickly returned to his mother. We did spend the rest of the day on the water and I seem to remember that we had fun but that was the last time they ever went sailing with us...wonder why?