Odin Takes a Swim
It’s time for another Odin adventure kiddies.
Dawn has been sanding and refinishing the bright work (that’s all of the varnished wood) while I’ve been recovering from my knee surgery. I can’t tell you how guilty I feel (Did I mention that I don’t do guilt?) while she works her ass off and I sit in the galley working on The Inside Passage.
In order to sand the sides of the cap rail on the port side, she put the dinghy in the water and worked her way down the side. As long as she had the dinghy in the water, she thought, she might as well load Odin up and go off on a little adventure.
Odin has become very familiar with dinghy rides, so as soon as Dawn gets in, he jumps down. He doesn’t want to be left behind.
We had a little trouble getting the engine started, but eventually, it fired up and off they went. Just to see if she could handle the dinghy and Odin at the same time by herself, you understand. Remember, this was just a little test ride, so Dawn didn’t take a cell phone of the portable VHF radio with her. We had no means of communicating.
I went to work on my book and two or three hours passed. Just when I was beginning to think about putting out a call on the radio to see if anyone had seen her, I heard an outboard nearing the marina.
I thought it might be fun to record their landing, so I grabbed the video camera and went up on deck.
Sure enough, the dinghy, with Dawn and Odin aboard, came putting around the jetty and into the marina. Dawn pulled the dinghy up to the dock like a pro. But, before she could get the dinghy secured, Odin decided he was ready to get out.
He leaped for the dock, but you know what Newton said: “For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction.”
As Odin pushed off the dinghy to leap up on the dock, the dinghy pushed away from the dock, leaving him suspended in mid-air, for about a tenth of a second. Then he was swimming.
It’s not the first time Odin has fallen off the dock and we knew the drill. Dawn jumped in the water with him while I grabbed the lifeline tethers out of the deck box. She passed the lines under Odin and I held onto him while she tried to get out of the water.
The floats here are about two and a half feet above the water. It is very difficult to pull yourself up without some place to put your feet. I have said repeatedly that the marina should install swim steps on every second or third float for safety reasons.
Anyway, Dawn struggled with getting back on the dock. I couldn’t help her because I was holding on to Odin. One of the security guys from the Arrecho saw our predicament and came running. Before he could get there however, Dawn got a foot on the dinghy painter, grabbed a cleat and pulled herself up on the dock. The boat monkey strikes again.
Once back up on deck, she joined me and we hoisted Odin back up on the dock.
If you’ve already watched the video, you knew all of this already. I just have to say that the whole incident goes to prove that Odin has a mind of his own.
He was ready to get out of the dinghy and wasn’t about to wait for Dawn to tell him it was OK to jump. He just jumped and ended up in the water.
Then, when Dawn finished rinsing him off, he waited for her command to shake, like a good dog. But when she told him to shake a second time, he said “Like hell. I’m getting back up on the big boat where it’s safe.”
Dawn gave him a light pat on the fanny and said, “Wait for me next time.”
Anyway, all’s well that ends well. Dawn and Odin had a great adventure dinghying to Marina La Paz and to the dog beach on El Mogote. They both had a refreshing swim and Dawn got to rinse all of the saw dust and sweat off of her. And I got a good laugh and a neat video.
Dawn has been sanding and refinishing the bright work (that’s all of the varnished wood) while I’ve been recovering from my knee surgery. I can’t tell you how guilty I feel (Did I mention that I don’t do guilt?) while she works her ass off and I sit in the galley working on The Inside Passage.
In order to sand the sides of the cap rail on the port side, she put the dinghy in the water and worked her way down the side. As long as she had the dinghy in the water, she thought, she might as well load Odin up and go off on a little adventure.
Odin has become very familiar with dinghy rides, so as soon as Dawn gets in, he jumps down. He doesn’t want to be left behind.
We had a little trouble getting the engine started, but eventually, it fired up and off they went. Just to see if she could handle the dinghy and Odin at the same time by herself, you understand. Remember, this was just a little test ride, so Dawn didn’t take a cell phone of the portable VHF radio with her. We had no means of communicating.
I went to work on my book and two or three hours passed. Just when I was beginning to think about putting out a call on the radio to see if anyone had seen her, I heard an outboard nearing the marina.
I thought it might be fun to record their landing, so I grabbed the video camera and went up on deck.
Sure enough, the dinghy, with Dawn and Odin aboard, came putting around the jetty and into the marina. Dawn pulled the dinghy up to the dock like a pro. But, before she could get the dinghy secured, Odin decided he was ready to get out.
He leaped for the dock, but you know what Newton said: “For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction.”
As Odin pushed off the dinghy to leap up on the dock, the dinghy pushed away from the dock, leaving him suspended in mid-air, for about a tenth of a second. Then he was swimming.
It’s not the first time Odin has fallen off the dock and we knew the drill. Dawn jumped in the water with him while I grabbed the lifeline tethers out of the deck box. She passed the lines under Odin and I held onto him while she tried to get out of the water.
The floats here are about two and a half feet above the water. It is very difficult to pull yourself up without some place to put your feet. I have said repeatedly that the marina should install swim steps on every second or third float for safety reasons.
Anyway, Dawn struggled with getting back on the dock. I couldn’t help her because I was holding on to Odin. One of the security guys from the Arrecho saw our predicament and came running. Before he could get there however, Dawn got a foot on the dinghy painter, grabbed a cleat and pulled herself up on the dock. The boat monkey strikes again.
Once back up on deck, she joined me and we hoisted Odin back up on the dock.
If you’ve already watched the video, you knew all of this already. I just have to say that the whole incident goes to prove that Odin has a mind of his own.
He was ready to get out of the dinghy and wasn’t about to wait for Dawn to tell him it was OK to jump. He just jumped and ended up in the water.
Then, when Dawn finished rinsing him off, he waited for her command to shake, like a good dog. But when she told him to shake a second time, he said “Like hell. I’m getting back up on the big boat where it’s safe.”
Dawn gave him a light pat on the fanny and said, “Wait for me next time.”
Anyway, all’s well that ends well. Dawn and Odin had a great adventure dinghying to Marina La Paz and to the dog beach on El Mogote. They both had a refreshing swim and Dawn got to rinse all of the saw dust and sweat off of her. And I got a good laugh and a neat video.