Then we'd be screwed.
My brother and I went sailing last Sunday. We went to my favorite lake which, up to now, has been largely kept secret and most of the time there would be nary another soul on the water or on the shore. This day was not one of those days. In the morning, most of the people were friendly and cheerful: saying how pretty my boat was, watching the eagles or generally not causing a fuss when the boat loses steerageway near the shore where they were fishing. Near lunch time all the shore fishermen just scowled at us. One particularly nasty old lady said "if you doon't knoo how to handle and boot, doon't go in ze water."
I am under no dillusions about my capabilities; I may have been certified in advanced theories on 40ft leviathans, but my skills have since atrophied, especially on a small boat where everything happens at once. Perhaps I don't know what I am doing, but how can anyone learn how to do something without actually doing it? They were fishing with bobbers in the weeds anyway.
The weather was great. The heatwave of the previous week had broke and the wind started out light but got stronger throughout the day. The new trolling motor worked to keep the boat heading into the wind to make sail and power out of tight spots, like when we could not get enough momentum to tack into the wind and sail in the other direction and stopped all together before drifting directly onto the cranky old lady's line.
My sister's boyfriend said he'd meet us there but he never showed up. My brother ate his sandwich when we intentionaly grounded the boat and had lunch on the boulders on shore.
We forgot the sail twice. In the morning I got all the saftey equipment ready and picked my brother up. We hooked up the trailer and took off, getting half way down the road before realizing we never loaded the boom and mainsail, trolling motor, battery, oars and the tiller. Then later, after hauling the boat out of the water and getting attitude from a massive jetboat owner for being in the way (the trees foul my mast anywhere else and high powered engines are illegal on this particular lake anyway) we de-rigged and double checked to see if we left anything on the beach. We gave a boat a helping shove because the skipper was being a jerk to his neophyte wife who couldn't do it and headed home. When we were putting away everything I opened the jib's sailbag to discover there was no sail in it. We frantically checked all the lockers and checked to see if we furled it down with the main when I remebered folding it in the grass. At the lake. ALL THE WAY BACK AT THE LAKE.
All in all, it was a good day. My only regret is that my favorite lake is turning into a tourist attraction like the only other lake within miles and miles. Maybe towards fall or on a weekday we'll find some privacy.
