Heather's Experiences of Crewing on a Yacht

Barnacles and Barracudas

Feel hot? Perhaps it’s time for a dip in the ocean?  Always a good excuse for a crew member to escape the heat of jobs onboard is to don a mask and flippers, take a scrapper in hand and dive overboard. While the guests are happily frolicking on land or at the beach, during the afternoon, those deckhands completing tasks onboard can find some relief by combining pleasure with work. Remember Bart, our crusty chef, also a Canadian from the prairies who didn’t know how to swim, did his best to challenge himself to learn how. Looking busy scraping barnacles off the hull, between swipes, Bart would practice his sloshing and thrashing routine.  His loyal crewmates, Jerry and I, always looking for a laugh, would encourage his swimming with shouts of ‘Bart there’s a barracuda !’  We were sure this would have him practice his swimming by forcing him to swim faster.  Mission accomplished. He was panicked and we cruelly laughed as we watched him thrash to the steps to scramble onboard. Safely onboard, he scoured the water for the dastardly beast, to which he through the accusation of ‘you liars, where is the Barracuda?’   “Really Bart, there are barracudas there, see the baby barracuda over there!” You have got to have fun onboard, with your crewmates, joke, laugh and get to know each other. By the way, he did get us back.