HUMOROUS STORY OF THE WEEK – LEARNING TO SAIL by Gerald Walford, Ph.D.
HUMOROUS STORY OF THE WEEK
LEARNING TO SAIL
by Gerald Walford, Ph.D.
Learning to Sail is the humorous story of the misadventures of two cocky, young men. Years later they can look back with laughter.
They bought a small two-man boat and decided to give it a try. Although they had never sailed before, they said, “everybody in Bermuda sails, why not us?” After all, they were both ex-athletes. What could be so hard? And so this humorous story begins.
They jumped on their motorcycles and raced to the far end of the long, narrow island. They met a boat owner and examined his boat. It looked good, except for a six inch hole in the hull. The two of them looked at each other and decided, “No problem. One minor repair, and our boat would be seaworthy.”
They bought the boat, glued up a temporary covering over the hole and painted the word “Zygote” on the back. Then they christened it with a can of beer and launched it. They both jumped in and coasted off into the ocean, but once they raised up the sail, they realized they had no control of their ‘mighty’ craft. Their little sailboat was drifting out to sea towards a huge ocean liner. Tourists on that liner crowded around its railing, yelling and pointing, telling them to steer away. They tried but nothing would control the boat. It was drifting straight into the path of the ocean liner. Despite their good intentions, the heavy winds were making it difficult to manage their direction.
Suddenly, their boat started to sink. Thanks to their faulty patch work, it was going down. Luck was on their side. Their lives were saved. That near collision with that ocean liner was only the beginning of a series of misadventures.
After Gerald thought he had it figured out, he invited his girlfriend for a sail. This adventure ended extremely dangerously, but in retrospect, rather humorously. Better to take up golf, Gerald decided.
Watch frames 1:09 – 2:23 for a lively video presentation of Gerald’s story.
“Learning to Sail” is now published in Chapter 5 of
Tales2Inspire ~ The Crystal Collection
(Stories that Tickle the Funny Bone)
