[C320-list] C320 Regatta 2008

[Warren Updike]

Here's a story about Annapolis Yacht Basin from my early sailing days.  In the late '80s, we were new to the Chesapeake Bay and were chartering a boat on a July weekend.  We had taken a spin around the harbor which is a zoo of boats in the summer; and, needed to take on some ice and water.  As we approached AYB, a dock hand came to the edge and asked what we needed.  We told him, "Ice and water."  "How many bags?" he said.  We told him "two," whereupon he retrieved two bags and threw them to us as we approached the dock.  We paid him and he pushed us off: no water, no docking.  They wanted the space for the big-buck boaters.

Can't say as I blame them.  Why should we tie up a fuel dock for $40 of diesel when the (power) boat behind us will take on 500 Gal. and pay over $1,500.  Why, indeed?  What happened to first-come, first-served?

Warren & Pattie Updike
C320, #62, 1994, "Warr De Mar"
Frog Mortar Creek, Middle River
Chesapeake Bay