Posted on 05/30/2023 4:52:54 PM PDT by SamAdams76
Being a boat owner is not all it is cracked up to be.
Most people have their first experience with boats as a passenger on somebody else's boat.
A hot summer day on a New Hampshire lake, for example. They board a cabin boat of an acquaintance with a cooler full of alcoholic beverages early on a Saturday morning in Meredith, NH by Lake Winnipesaukee.
To them, it is a fun experience. Once out on the lake, cruising around Governor's Island, they enter a state of bliss while they crack their third can of beer, sitting on their deck chair in bare fee viewing the multi-million dollar homes, while "Miracles" by Jefferson Starship comes out over the cabin speakers.
However, for the owner/captain of the cabin boat, it is not so much fun. He (and it's usually a he) is always on the alert, making sure he does not run afoul of the buoys and encounter the sharp, jagged rocks that threaten to rip his $85,000 cabin boat to pieces, imperiling his slightly intoxicated passengers in the process.
Does he have enough life preservers on board just in case? That is the owner/captain's problem. The passengers don't have a clue.
Also, the owner/captain always has an eye out for the dreaded Marine Patrol, of the New Hampshire State Police. If he makes too much wake, if he goes a bit too fast, if one of his passengers do something stupid like pitch an empty beer can into the waters, he is solely responsible and he alone will pay a heavy price.
The owner/captain cannot enjoy the experience of being out on the lake like his passengers. He is probably thinking about how much he will have to pay to dock his boat in Center Harbor, so his passengers can de-board to grab a $15 burger and fries at the Bob House or maybe an ice cream cone at Dewey's Ice Cream Parlor. While the owner/captain remains on the boat to adjust this and that and ensure he has enough gas to make it back across the lake, his passengers don't even bother to bring him a cold glass of water. They re-board his craft after an hour or so and plop down on their chairs, while expectantly waiting for the owner/captain to rev up the engines and take them further on their adventure around the Winnipesaukee.
Lake Winnipesaukee, the setting for the classic 1991 Bill Murray movie "What About Bob", except the movie itself was filmed somewhere in Virginia. Go figure. But I digress.
The owner/captain of a cabin boat never gets respect and usually bears all the cost of the boat. When the short New Hampshire summer is over, and it's time to put the boat in storage, are any of the summertime passengers around to help out? No, they have all gone home to Massachusetts or some other infernal place like Connecticut. It is up to the owner/captain to clean the boat and get it into dry dock storage, which is quite expensive. $3000-$4000 at a minimum.
Rare is the passenger that shares the cost (and labor) of having a cabin boat on Lake Winnipesaukee. However, those who do occasionally purchase a tank of gas or help out with some of the constant maintenance required on a cabin boat, are forever in the owner/captain's good graces. Those people will be forever welcome on board as passengers in future seasons, while those who just sat on deck chairs with coolers by their side, complaining about the wind, the cold or the choppiness of the lake, are typically not invited back for the next season.
So why do they call three goals in hockey a hat trick anyway?
There are various theories on this but the one I am most familiar with is that up in Canada, a certain hat-maker would give a free hat to any hockey player who scored three goals in a single game. Eventually the spectators caught on to the gimmick and they would end up throwing their own hats onto the ice whenever a player scored his third goal of the game. Thus, the "hat trick."
no one really wants to ready about your dumb boat.
There’s big benefit living in the great empty north. We’ve got 5.6 million people, less than the 7 million crammed into Massachusetts. And our land area is a wee bit bigger then Mass, too. That tiny blob in the middle is Mass shown for scale over the “empty North.”
In the NBA if you get some triple doubles, you get more money. Not all hats are the same size and money is better.
wy69
“That is supposedly where the term “Give ‘em the whole 9 yards came from. Never heard that before.”
I’ve heard that also.
AND “balls to the wall” was from WW2 as well. The interiors of fighter planes weren’t built for creature comforts, the designers used the least amount of space possible to put a pilot in one. The RAF pilots swore you didn’t FLY a Spitfire, you WORE a Spitfire. So much so that when you opened up the engine to attack you literally used the heel of your hand to push the throttle forward until balls on the top of the linkage were firmly in contact with the forward wall of the pilots cabin.
“I heard today that planes in WWII with mounted guns, that the length of the ammo strip that got fed through them was 9 yards long. That is supposedly where the term “Give ‘em the whole 9 yards came from. Never heard that before.”
Use of the phrase documented back to 1855.
Interesting, thanks!
That’s a lot of elbow room. 😉
Slightly off topic: Another three cornered hat in history is the one said to be worn by Haman in the Bible. He was a court official (he royal vizier to the Persian king Ahasuerus) and villain whose plan to destroy the Jews of Persia was thwarted by Esther as told in the Book of Esther.
The “Hamantaschen” are pastries Jews eat around Purim. They can have chocolate, strawberry, cherry, poppy seeds or apricot on top and are made to look like Haman’s three cornered hat.
However, the real story is in the old days a prisoner’s ears were cut off before he was hanged. These pastries are really supposed to look like the severed ears.
I'm flattered.
It sure is! It gets even better. From the 100th Meridian west to the Sierra Nevada and Cascades ranges, there are 30 million Americans, just 9% of the population. That's about the same as live in the Metro New York area.
A third of that 30 million lives in Denver, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. More than half of the 30 million live in eight cities: Denver, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Tucson, Albuquerque, El Paso and Boise. So only 15 million people live in the west outside those eight cities.
LOTS of elbow room!
I did count them just to make a point....but skimmed using search for hat trick.
Gotta be on my all-time list.
I’m more concerned about running afoul of the gurls.
I read a long time ago the whole nine yards referred to the amount of material used to make a royal’s dress.
It meant bringing down a quail, a pheasant, and a third animala snipe.
Cool 👍😁
I’ve been snipe hunting before. Never again. 😁
Fabric is typically sold on bolts that are 9 yds in length.
I believe there are many other examples of 9 yds being the full measure.
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