Date: 8 May 2023. Rules for Life.
©
janice142
I believe the majority of folks have
accumulated great stories. Many of the most interesting can be
attributed to graduating from the School of Hard Knocks. Evening
dockside chats often turn to reminiscing. Over the years I have
accumulated a list I refer to as my Rules for Life. Today I will
take you on a trip into the past. Welcome aboard.
The
Rules for Life began as a collection of mishaps friends and I
have survived. All too often injuries occurred. These are things to
avoid. Gradually the list evolved into the current format.
My goal is to
have a long life aboard my Seaweed.
I believe these rules will help me accomplish this.

1. Do not swim
with alligators. One
would assume that once a person is able to swim that they would know
not to dive into murky water inhabited by alligators. Alas, you
would be mistaken!
When the water is murky, seeing an alligator is difficult.

On the bright side, it is quite amazing how fast a man can swim when
an alligator has entered the water.
Credit to Captain Hungry. He spotted the gator and and shouted a warning to the
oblivious swimmer.
2. Do not climb
trees. Quite naturally
once retired most folks would know that climbing trees is not the best thing
to do. However, when men are involved, both are over 60 years old,
and they have a project, plus are unsupervised... well, bad things can
happen.
The tree that is the cause of this rule is shown near
the bow of Esprit on the right side of this photograph.

So it
began like this: Two
retired men decided a tree needed to be trimmed. And who were these men?
The younger (at 77 years old) volunteered to climb the tree and help trim it.
The other fellow was over
80. Both had lived in the Florida Keys for many years.
You may wonder
what the older guy's son did for income. Well, that man ran a
landscaping business which serviced condominiums, motels and
residential properties, providing lawn care and TREE TRIMMING.
Did either of these overgrown
boys decide to pick up a phone and ask the experts to trim the tree?
No, of course not! And that ladies and gentleman is the reason why at
77 years old my Daddy went up that tree. Subsequently he fell from the tree.
The sudden stop at the ground shattered his pelvis. Though he did walk
again, this was the beginning of the end. Daddy was gone within a
year.
As an aside, these are
older gents. They do not sue for accidents. I suspect both wished to
forget about this debacle. WWII veterans
were tough.
Many boats have built in
furniture which does help prevent the necessity for the following, Rule
#3.

Pairadice has a great galley with loads of storage.
3. Do not move
heavy furniture.
An otherwise intelligent gentleman rented a five-bedroom home to
what turned out to be a hoarder. That in and of itself was a royal
pain in the transom. However once she, her boyfriend, the feral
cats, raccoons and goodness knows what else departed, a house full
of stuff remained. Said landowner mistakenly thought hauling the
HEAVY furniture and assorted trash to dumpsters by himself was a
"good idea". It was not.

Fences have gates for a purpose. I should not have to
say don't hop the fence however...!
Memory Lane:
The above picture is my back yard in Hallandale Beach, FL many years
ago. The muskovy duck in the foreground is Tula (named after
Tallulah Bankhead, an actress and movie siren who appeared in
Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat, 1944).
←Amazon affiliate link
Remember when AOL mailed
out free CDs to join their service? Well, the oak tree out back
became the repository of every stray CD from the neighborhood. A box
of strings from our boat was utilized to secure the disks to the
tree. They spun nicely, reflecting light.
*Hallandale is a small community
on the southeastern coast of Florida with Fort Lauderdale to the
north and Miami just south of the town.
4. Do not jump
fences.
The ability to hop fences usually disappears about the time
one graduates from college. This can be attested to by contacting
orthopedic surgeons. Doctors see and repair the damage done by folks
who are a bit less flexible and athletic than they once were.
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House and boat ladders differ.
Ladders utilized at boatyards tend to be wobbly. Though a rope
secures the top of the ladder to my port side, going up
especially with groceries in hand was definitely precarious.
Going down to the ground was worse!

Luxury yachts like
Hatteras generally have sturdy ladders with good handrails.
Travis loved the flybridge of the Hatt50 Yachtfish one
summertime afternoon. → |
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5. When on
ladders use the handrails.
It goes without saying that
folks using ladders should keep safety in mind. Failure to hang on can
culminate with a broken arm, wrist and dislocated shoulder. Plus,
telling friends you fell off a ladder is embarrassing. Bills are
incurred. Recovery takes a long time. The pain is substantial.
Being safety minded and careful is especially important in the
boating world. |
SMALL
Pic ↓
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←I made this image smaller deliberately. IF you are not
squeamish, click the picture for the full sized version. The
photo was taken a couple weeks after my accident. |
6. Do not work
when tired.
I did, and the result was a
broken arm. See picture above. And yes, that's me.
It was the end of a day filled with boat projects and I was tired.
I did not pay attention and took a fall into the bilge while holding
my Skipper. She was not hurt. I was, and frankly for a time I lost
my confidence.
Rule #6
means that whenever I am working on a job, if I even feel a moment
of tiredness I quit for the day. Frankly, there are too many times
when I have pushed through, only to make a mistake that is quite
apparent when I restart the job. Now I stop before that happens.

When underway
I make it a point to mark my chart with rest stops. These are
generally a couple miles apart as I prefer short days. I have pulled
off the waterway to anchor for an hour or three. A bite to eat,
along with a bit of rest and I am once more ready to go. If not, I
hunker down for the night. After all, I am already where I want to
be.

7. Pay
particular attention to steps.
A dear friend named Lisa took a
tumble from the second story staircase to the ground floor. This
was particularly damaging and resulted in complications that she is
still battling. Get well soon girl!
Engine rooms on boats have lots of things that can
cause a world of hurt.

Everyone knows to be particularly careful when working
on boats. A moment of inattention can cause life altering injuries.
8. Keep hatches
closed unless absolutely necessary for a project, AND be sure to close
every hatch each time you leave the job. Falling
into a bilge is not the issue. The problem is that sudden stop at
the bottom. In my bilge there are a myriad of hard objects that
can cause serious harm to a normally careful boater. Stepping
into a hole is scary too.

Seaweed is anchored in the Gulf of Mexico a mile off
shore one fine summer day.
Naturally after the second
fall into a bilge, a thorough analysis by dockside friends was
inevitable. There were two accidents, two years apart, affecting two
boaters each with decades of experience on the water. Both of
us were walking inside boats from the bright sunshine. Neither of us
saw that a hatch was opened. We both accidentally stepped into the void.
Fortunately the sudden stop did not kill us.

Seaweed is tied up at the American Legion. Lefty, a
Gulfstar36, is anchored in the background.
SAFETY IS OUR
RENEWED NUMBER ONE PRIORITY.
The latest
rule is:
9. When
coming inside from outdoors, pause a moment to allow eyes to adjust
before proceeding.
The Rules
for Life were accrued over decades afloat. Thankfully I did not have to
personally contribute more than a couple of these for your
edification. Though the overarching mantra should be "Use Common
Sense" unfortunately that is all too rare at times. Of course you
are different. You are smarter than the average and thus should
merely read for amusement at the shenanigans some of us get into. My
goal is to not have to contribute more to this list.
In the
meantime, for your convenience here is the complete collection:
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Rules for Life |
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1. Do not swim
with alligators.
2. Do not climb
trees.
3. Do not move
heavy furniture.
4. Do not jump
fences.
5. When on
ladders use the handrails.
6. Do not work
when tired.
7. Pay
particular attention to steps.
8. Keep hatches
closed unless absolutely necessary for a project, AND be sure to close
every hatch each time you leave the job.
Related to #6 and #8, both cases
involved walking from bright sunshine into a boat. I believe that
older eyes do not adjust rapidly enough to discern the dangers
awaiting inside the boat. Thus the latest rule is:
9. When coming
inside from outdoors, pause a moment to allow eyes to adjust before
proceeding.
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I do wonder if you have picked up any helpful advice regarding
safety. It is personal stories that help guide me in making good
decisions. Advice is definitely sought. And thanks!!!
Thank you for reading, and for sticking with me. I appreciate that.
Have you made a similar list? Please share.
And, do you have any rules for life that help you?
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© 2023
Categories: Boats,
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Brokenhearted on 27 February 2023 ~
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