OK, here is the challenge. We need a story, not just any story of course, a sailing story. It can be of a race, cruise, attempt at sailing what ever. Anyone can contribute bits and pieces or whole paragraphs. Try to keep it short, we need a lot of input. Heck, maybe if its good enough it would make Catsailor rag!

Here goes:

I got up early Friday morning wondering if I really wanted to go to work, even if it was just for part of the day. I could only think about the trip. Did I have the boat ready to go? Was everything packed? What am I missing? The last thing I need is to get to the water and left something behind. As I sipped my coffee wondering what to do, the phone rang...

Harry? . . . I'm so glad you called, I was just wondering, did you ship out the replacement spinnaker?

And then the phone rang again and it was my families lawyer saying there was a miscalculation on my great uncle's estate. The same great uncle that made a fortune selling land to Disney back in the late 70's. It seems that in his hand written deathbed will he left it all to me under the one condition that I

Yeh, it's on the way. Man, those Tybee Island sea squirrels can really make a mess of things. Have you found a way to eradicate the little varmints. They don't smell so bad but that hair! And the teeth on 'em!

teach Micheal Jackson how to do the wild thing,together,for as long as it takes in a Opti!I realised then and there.....

the one condition that I ride my Beaver 20 solo across the atlantic. Pure madnees, of course and anyone else would probably have thought the old man had lost his mind. Not me though, we were very close back in those days and he knew exactly what it was that I needed. I had forgotten, of course. I needed a challenge. Thing about challenges is you never seem to know the trouble they'll get you into before hand...

so i called Russell Coutts who said he'd be happy to trim the main of my beaver. Then I realized that if the conditions were good...

I might acutally get the day off and go sailing.

In my prep for a trans-atlantic crossing on a Beaver, I realized that I couldn't just go that distance without properly naming the boat and finding a sponsor. Some of the key sponsors that came to mind were...

Beaver Liquors in Avon, CO and . . .

Might as well call the Kotex company as well. Seems like we should stay away from this direction but someone else started it with all the trimming of the Beaver and such.

Maybe Shaver Lake can sponsor us. At least the liquor store or the card shop. We can call it the "Shaver Liquor Poker" Beaver 20.

OK, gentlemen. Read your posts... Is this a story? C'mon we can do better than that!

This is a sailing forum, This is a discussion board, not a writers notepad. . . i am not opposed to this (as it's an open forum).. but i sure as heck don't understand what your goal is?

Ok then, never mind.

You are right WHAT WAS I THINKING?

The idea is quite simple actaully. Each person writes his or her piece and we collectively write a story. These are cool stories because you never know where they are going to end up. I have read a few on other forums and couldnt stop laughing. With sailors involved this should be a great story!

can't be any worse than "TEST".

I say carry on. If you think it is too weird don't look.

...when I got to the beach the wind was out of a strange direction and far warmer than it should be. The sky had a slight yellow in it. I was ready for crisp blue chilly sailing but this is a reminder of Equatorial conditions. I hesitate suiting up for these conditions as they may turn nasty and catch me off guard.

TAKE TWO

"Harry? . . . I'm so glad you called, I was just wondering, did you ship out the replacement spinnaker?"

"Yeh, it's on the way. Man, those Tybee Island sea squirrels can really make a mess of things. Have you found a way to eradicate the little varmints. They don't smell so bad but that hair! And the teeth on 'em!"

Andrew, overcome by the immensity of the moment, wandered off for a bottle of Midol.