Macht geht vor recht.........

The perfect couple

So last night, Joern, Nate (pronounced yearn and nata), Kirstin and I were having a few drinks at the bar. OK, maybe more than a few drinks. Anyway, I've been giving Joern shit about his dinghy not being in the water (he's working on his boat in the dockyard). Anyway, somehow the four of us decided it would be a good idea to launch his dinghy while intoxicated. What could go wrong?

OK, first............he's got to pump it up. Pump, pump, pump. OK good. It holds air and is good to go. Then, he lowers the outboard to me from his boat, which is on jacks. This is where the problems begin. Joern's former job is to build Airbus jets. Clearly, he feels that all vehicles (dinghies and jets) should be similarly powered. He's got a 40 hp outboard on this dinghy. As a point of comparison, his yacht has a 45 hp diesel engine. You get the picture...........it's significantly OVERPOWERED.

We struggle and stagger with Joern's outboard and get it to the water. The dinghy takes all 4 of us to get  it there. Lowering it into the water off an eight foot tall concrete dock is an adventure. My feet are in the water and I'm watching for these little brown crabs I saw there before. Yuck.........new joke........."how many drunk sailors does it take........" Anyway, we launch the dinghy, get this monstrous outboard in it and VROOOOM. Joern starts it up. I somehow agree to go with him from the dock, back to the restaurant (about 20 yards away). Bad decision.

Psychopaths Joern and Nate starting up their dinghy

Joern decides to show me the difference between Crabby (our 8 hp dinghy) and Phoenix (the name we've chosen for his). AHHHHHHHH. He's doing doughnuts, figure 8s, high speed turns. Oh, and the water is a bit shallow in places. "Tohm.......diz eez only haf powah.......I make full throttle now" Suddenly I'm completely sober. Hanging on for my life.........

We arrive safely, except for me screaming like a 10 year old girl. Anyway, everything ends up well.