The Perfect Norm

So there I was...moving at a good clip through the waters of the Cape Cod Canal.  This canal is about seven miles long and effectively severs Cape Cod from mainland Massachussets and saves a mariner about 135 miles it would take to go around the Cape on the outside.  If you go through with the right tide and wind direction, it is a pleasure.  If you attempt the opposite of this you will have a very bad day.  Once I exited the canal into Cape Cod Bay I headed north on my way to Boston.  The seas were smooth all the way into Boston Harbor where I finally dropped anchor off the shores of the South Boston Yacht Club.  After dingying up to their dock I crashed the yacht club for a drink.  One thing tough about this anchorage is it is in the landing pattern for a lot of the planes coming into Logan Airport.  Very low, very loud.  So, early next morning I was out of there.  Continuing north, I slipped into Gloucester Harbor in the a.m. and found an excellent anchorage deep in the harbor where all the stores and facilities were.  Barely got the dingy in the water when I took note of a big 70+ ft multi-story yacht  dropping the lines from a mooring nearby preparing to leave.  There is this very handy and expensive addition on some boats called a bow thruster.  It is basically two large holes that are cut out on the left (port) and right (starboard) sides of the front (bow) of the boat that is underwater.  A fiberglass tunnel connects these holes together and a motor turns one or two propellers within this tunnel to create thrust that moves the front (bow) from side to side without the boat having to move forward.  I have one and it is extremely handy when approaching or leaving a dock.  You never use the thruster when a line is in the water.  The yacht in this story had a very big bow thruster that sucked the just dropped lines into the blades, jamming the thruster and eating the lines.   The massive boat was now hanging by the bow thruster and chewed up lines in a stiff wind.  This had the potential of being a very costly mistake.  I dingied over and suggested the guy drop me a line to connect them with the mooring again and after donning snorkel gear and a knife the guy dove from my boat as I assisted him in getting the bow thruster clear of line.  Once fixed, away they went with a lesson learned.  Talked to a nearby boat about what happened and that led into me being invited over to their boat for a most delicious dinner that night.  My brother joined me the next day for a short overnight visit and we added a few calories at the waterside restaurants that you get to by boat.  We poked around this working harbor, one of the oldest in the United States, where the true story "The Perfect Storm" that was made famous in book and film was based.  Something new and different, and sometimes perfect, every day.  But to me, this is just the norm.