"The Admiral"
- Thread starter jviss
- Start date
funny- never referred to either of my sailing wives as "the admiral" hey both stood helm tricks, just as I did
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Come on man finish this...could be interesting! Mine will take the helm under motor, but does better at keeping my beer stable when others are sailing. What more should an Admiral do?
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I just don't like the expression. It seems to be something from an older generation.
Perhaps you can use cabin wench? First Mate usually works, but that insinuates the possibility of a second.
I can't. At my age I still Admire the love of my life. Admiral works just fine.
I was down below looking at the radar. The Admiral came down, saw me looking at the radar, and said, "what's on the radar". I said, "dust". That's when the fight started.
That's when the fight started. [/QUOTE]
When my wife first started sailing with me, I innocently pointed out that the boat doesn't heal as much when she moves to the high side vs sitting on the low side. That's when the fight started.
[/QUOTE]When my wife first started sailing with me, I innocently pointed out that the boat doesn't heal as much when she moves to the high side vs sitting on the low side. That's when the fight started.
OK, then. I didn't heal quickly after that remark. But more importantly I did make my point so now the boat doesn't heel as much either.
Ok, I get it. Lots of humor. That's good. I don't refer to my spouse regularly as "The Admiral" but she gets the joke when I do.
Semi on topic storytime:
Funny (interesting?) thing is, she's far better at running the boat than I am. Puts it in the slip better, keeps better course, etc.
Recent trip to Catalina (2 wks ago) - left waaaaay too late. Friday afternoon. Her decision, work schedules and crap. Normally leave Thursday at 7am when it'll be flat as a pancake. About 20 miles into a 40 mile passage, it gets pretty rough. Motor can't bash to windward at any reasonable speed, so sails and bashing into 20k winds are the ticket. Not much swell to speak of but brutal 6' at 6 seconds type of chop. Just the kind of stuff nobody want's to bash into. Anybody at the helm was gonna get soaked - even tho the C-30 is a pretty dry boat (for it's size) and I have a dodger. Oh, autopilot on the fritz too so we were taking turns hand steering. As soon as it got dark, DW was the helm. I had me, two newbies, and her. And out of the 4 of us, she was fantastic - by far the best. Orders of magnitude the best. Absolutely the best helmsperson I've ever seen in the dark. Perfect course for keeping the sails pulling to the max, pinching perfectly when possible to make better VMG to where we were going. We bailed out a bit early (6 miles or so) just because we got beat up soo bad on the way over, but hey - we would have had a much tougher time without the "Admiral's" mad skills. She did mention afterwards that she wasn't a big fan of sailing in the dark. Personally, I love sailing in the dark. it's being within 50' of the shoreline in the dark that freaks me out. (she had me 'drive' the boat for the mooring as we were close to the shore)
Wave pd was so short, my sailboat was pounding like a powerboat - Ka-Bang, Bang, Bang. (minor rest, repeat)... Later on (after we moored up and opened some wine) DW mentioned she thought we all were gonna die, so she may as well be in control The other three of us were calm in the fact she knew what she was doing.. (She sailed the Med starting at 6 yo... she's a damn fine sailor. It was her first night sail tho... )
Ended up being a great trip. Really. We all loved it. For a sea state that would normally have everybody puking their guts out, our guests wanted to know when is the next time we could do it. All of the credit belongs to my DW and her amazing competence. Trip back was 20 miles of motoring, 5 miles of white sails, 13 miles of flying the asym spin, 2 miles of motoring after the wind died. Mainly because when I was asked "do we need fuel?" I answered "the wind always picks up on the way back..." Ahhhh... May have needed some fuel.. But it was fun nonetheless. Guests were on the helm 90% of the way back.
For those with local knowledge, we were aiming for the isthmus, but just couldn't get there based on 15-20 kts wind right out of the west. Avalon was beyond full - even the anchorage by the casino was crowded (and I hate anchoring there.. Too deep) Ended up bailing to White's which was a great decision. Even there was a ton of anchored big (50'+) boats. We threaded our way through the anchored boats and pulled up a mooring. Next AM a simple hour motoring got us from Whites to the Isthmus. Kinda bizzare to look at a webcam to see if an anchorage is full - bit it worked. (Mt Ada Webcam - can easily see what's going on at Avalon)
Semi on topic storytime:
Funny (interesting?) thing is, she's far better at running the boat than I am. Puts it in the slip better, keeps better course, etc.
Recent trip to Catalina (2 wks ago) - left waaaaay too late. Friday afternoon. Her decision, work schedules and crap. Normally leave Thursday at 7am when it'll be flat as a pancake. About 20 miles into a 40 mile passage, it gets pretty rough. Motor can't bash to windward at any reasonable speed, so sails and bashing into 20k winds are the ticket. Not much swell to speak of but brutal 6' at 6 seconds type of chop. Just the kind of stuff nobody want's to bash into. Anybody at the helm was gonna get soaked - even tho the C-30 is a pretty dry boat (for it's size) and I have a dodger. Oh, autopilot on the fritz too so we were taking turns hand steering. As soon as it got dark, DW was the helm. I had me, two newbies, and her. And out of the 4 of us, she was fantastic - by far the best. Orders of magnitude the best. Absolutely the best helmsperson I've ever seen in the dark. Perfect course for keeping the sails pulling to the max, pinching perfectly when possible to make better VMG to where we were going. We bailed out a bit early (6 miles or so) just because we got beat up soo bad on the way over, but hey - we would have had a much tougher time without the "Admiral's" mad skills. She did mention afterwards that she wasn't a big fan of sailing in the dark. Personally, I love sailing in the dark. it's being within 50' of the shoreline in the dark that freaks me out. (she had me 'drive' the boat for the mooring as we were close to the shore)
Wave pd was so short, my sailboat was pounding like a powerboat - Ka-Bang, Bang, Bang. (minor rest, repeat)... Later on (after we moored up and opened some wine) DW mentioned she thought we all were gonna die, so she may as well be in control
The other three of us were calm in the fact she knew what she was doing.. (She sailed the Med starting at 6 yo... she's a damn fine sailor. It was her first night sail tho... )Ended up being a great trip. Really. We all loved it. For a sea state that would normally have everybody puking their guts out, our guests wanted to know when is the next time we could do it. All of the credit belongs to my DW and her amazing competence. Trip back was 20 miles of motoring, 5 miles of white sails, 13 miles of flying the asym spin, 2 miles of motoring after the wind died. Mainly because when I was asked "do we need fuel?" I answered "the wind always picks up on the way back..." Ahhhh... May have needed some fuel..
But it was fun nonetheless. Guests were on the helm 90% of the way back. For those with local knowledge, we were aiming for the isthmus, but just couldn't get there based on 15-20 kts wind right out of the west. Avalon was beyond full - even the anchorage by the casino was crowded (and I hate anchoring there.. Too deep) Ended up bailing to White's which was a great decision. Even there was a ton of anchored big (50'+) boats. We threaded our way through the anchored boats and pulled up a mooring. Next AM a simple hour motoring got us from Whites to the Isthmus. Kinda bizzare to look at a webcam to see if an anchorage is full - bit it worked. (Mt Ada Webcam - can easily see what's going on at Avalon)
When an Admiral and a Captain are on a USN vessel together...
The Captain runs the Helm, ship operations and Safety [tactical]
The Admiral makes all other decisions. [strategic]
My Admiral holds the title as a badge of honor.
But overall she is my...
First Mate!!
Jim...
The Captain runs the Helm, ship operations and Safety [tactical]
The Admiral makes all other decisions. [strategic]
My Admiral holds the title as a badge of honor.
But overall she is my...
First Mate!!
Jim...
SSSSSHHHHH the first mate and second mate aren't supposed to know about each other.First Mate usually works, but that insinuates the possibility of a second.
I don't know what "older generation" you are talking about, but in over 5 decades of messin about on boats I'd never heard the term used to describe one's female companion on a boat until I read it on an online forum, fairly recently. I think it's a disrespectful and belittling term that implies that just because someone's plumbing is on the inside to think they cannot be a worthwhile contributing member of a boat's crew.
I much prefer to think of my female sailing companion as my partner and a worthwhile contributor to OUR boating lifestyle. There is no gender in the term crew.
I suppose if one's "admiral" is supplying the Dom Pérignon, one would call her whatever she pleased.There is no gender in "Admiral", either.