A number of boats have turned up recently, heading west. Never before have I met such a miserable bunch of sailors! I thought it was just me but this morning a friend of ours who was cleaning her boat asked “What is it with these people?” They simply cannot bring themselves to say ‘hello’.” She is a cheery lady who could make even Scrooge smile.
This is not a new observation, either. They’ve been like it since they arrived last week. Seriously, getting a polite ‘good morning’ out of these people is akin to the old blood and stone conundrum.
Perhaps the prospect of sailing into the Indian Ocean is playing on their minds. Maybe the current trouble in Egypt is hampering plans – it’s certainly kicking off there right now. Still, there is no excuse for their blatant rudeness. I can name just a couple of boats who make an effort but the others simply reinforce the reputation of us Brits being reserved. Reserved? No, just downright discourteous.
Perhaps they just hate India. Another boat who had been here all of two weeks and never left the confines of the marina complained that India was a crap third world country. This person will be sailing through Sudan and Eritrea shortly. He’s in for the shock of his life.
Yesterday I spent the afternoon with Terry and friends watching the local kids gleefully sail their battered old second-hand Optimist dinghies in the river. We were guest of honour at their certificate presentation and it was a very sweet, positive afternoon.
Perhaps the boats in question, who appear to have forgotten exactly how fortunate they are, should have attended and watched the joy on these kids’ faces.
Sadly, ignorance prevails.
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Very well said & expressed Jamie,youre proving to be the person I thought you are,i will always be proud to say that you two are my friends…Move them ,make them think why they are here on this planet,a little bit of truth said to their faces,often works positive wonders..Reserved if they are, with their stupid acts they deserve everything you say…Keep on moving, love to read your podcasts you are great..Lots of love from Bodrum
Well said Jamie! It looks like we left Cochin at the right time! I sometimes wonder why these people bother travelling the world – do they expect everywhere to be like England?
As you know, like you, we loved India and really enjoyed our time there and were sad to leave.
We are now enjoying The Maldives and it is not as expensive as we thought – unless you go to a 5* resort! We would recommend boaters to come here as the people are really friendly, check-in is easy, cruising is excellent, snorkelling is fantastic and the beaches are beautiful.
hear hear we say but what a bad impression they give for us jolly loony sailors who have so many adventures and much richer in spirit for it if not inpocket
Sadly, the Caribbean is once again currently infested with ARC participants. I have been cruising in the Caribbean for 7+ years now (always at anchor) and like most cruisers I cringe every year when the ARC arrives.
Having crossed an ocean in a herd, they really strut their stuff, arrogantly believing that they are “world class” sailors now.
On arrival they almost all anchor on top of other boats with no scope and refuse to move when politely asked, no matter how close.
I had to get nasty with one Arc boat two weeks ago when his dinghy (on painter) started whacking into my hull. It was blowing 35 knots, his boat was about 2 meters away from my bow and he was over top of my rode, making it impossible for me to move should the need arise. I politely asked him to move. He gave me attitude, I got ugly and persistent, he eventually, grudgingly moved.
Two days later another bonehead ARC participant anchored beside me so close to my starboard side that I could literally (no exaggeration) have reached over and handed a beer to him without straining or stretching! When I politely pointed out that he was far far too close he smugly replied (as if scolding a five year old) “No, we will be fine, the wind always blows from the east in the Caribbean. You need to learn these things.”
Needless to say, out of necessity it got fairly ugly at that point. In the end he moved but was still absolutely convinced that the wind always blows from dead east in the Caribbean.
There’s a very cool local bar in that anchorage that serves as a nightly gathering place for cruisers and locals alike. It’s great fun and the locals are exceptionally nice people. They really make you feel at home.
When the ARC showed up, rather than join the fun, the ARC participants actually banded together and arranged to rent the bar, closing it to all, making sure to keep locals and cruisers out for their evening “Caribbean Experience”.
Seriously, the ARC makes us all look bad. When they infest an anchorage, it’s time to leave.
They are truly a foul lot.
I sailed 6 days before the ARC when I delivered a yacht to Antigua back in 2003. We met a few nice participants but there were a lot of idiots too. That story about them hiring out the bar and closing it to non-participants makes me sick. A ‘Caribbean Experience’, my ass! Sometimes I really do think us Brits sail round the world convinced we still own these locations. Are you writing from St Lucia? That is one beautiful place. I spent most of my time there hanging out with the local lads.
I should make the point that the people to whom I refer in this post are NOT the Vasco Da Gama participants. There was, however, one rather moody French skipper who was more concerned about hosing off bird poo from his bow than leaving the marina with the VdG rally before the tide turned. He had everyone on stand-by with lines and fenders, with two more boats ready to leave after him, whilst he purposely dragged his heals to make a point that he would be leaving when HE was ready. He was missing the point: slack tide is only 10 minutes, after which the 56ft cat would not have got out. The previous week the cat had tried to get in after slack water and ended up scraping his hull on our anchor. The ignorance of the situation, watching this chap nonchalantly hose crap off his boat whilst all around him were people shouting for him to get a move on, was beyond ludicrous. It was just a classic yachting comedy moment, but I guess you had to be there 😉
Or maybe the Pacific Islands were so stunning that anything else is just a downer ?!?.. Either way they shouldn’t be behaving like that. Makes one proud to be British.errr, not..
That’s possibly true. Still, India is a wonderful place and if potential progress up the Red Sea is delayed by the goings-on in Egypt then I hope they can relax a bit and get a chance to discover this great country a bit more.
Pretty sickening to hear there’s a bunch of spoilt tossers walking around with their bottom lips out while ‘doing the dream’ ??? They should come to the barn and enjoy the delights of an outside toilet, bath and kitchen during wintertime..Maybe they’re missing their 6 bedroom detatched house and their Aston parked in their double garage ??what oh !!! Marvelous.. Wan*ers !
Sounds like my office every day!