December 2, 1996-Radio Wars
December 2, 1996-Radio Wars
“WINGS, what do you have down?” the voice crackled through the radio without prelude.
We’d just arrived in Turtle Bay and after motoring around the anchored fleet had dropped our hook. Apparently one of the other skippers wanted to talk about our anchoring technique.
Something about this guy’s tone set me off, so my response was sarcastic.
“An anchor, why?”
“What type of anchor?”
“I have a sufficient anchor.”
“Hey skipper, this is serious so I’d like a polite reply. Several of us here have been here a couple of days and you’ve just arrived and it has been really blowing. Last night it was blowing 35 and we were up all night worrying and watching. We’ve all got about 200 feet of chain and we are concerned about you. You are pretty close to us. So what is your ground tackle?”
“I have a plow and chain.”
He gave up on us but soon he was on the radio talking to his friends and they were talking to each other about how concerned they were, about how difficult some people were to deal with, (meaning me), and the others were congratulating the guy on his diplomacy.
Obviously Judy and I had stumbled into an established fleet, and we’d offended them by anchoring within their territory. I’m also sure my radio response to the “Alpha Male” wasn’t properly deferential. Who knows in what other ways we had offended them. Right at that moment we were feeling pretty unwelcome.
So that is how our stay here at Turtle Bay got started. Judy and I both felt that we’d been in an argument and lost. Maybe I should have just told the guy to go to hell, or maybe I should have licked his ass. At any rate, we don’t like being the cause of continuing bad feelings so we raised the anchor and moved completely around the whole anchored fleet to the back of everyone, which ended the confrontation, but it sure left a bad feeling with us.
We learned two things from this encounter: One, be very careful what you say on the radio; everyone is listening. I came off badly in that exchange and we knew we’d have to live with the opinions that the members of this fleet had formed of us because of that radio conversation for a long time. Secondly, winning an anchoring dispute just isn’t worth it. People don’t have to be right to be territorial and aggressive. If you argue with them, you automatically lose, because even if you win the argument, the hard feelings will remain, and the cruising community is small.
We also learned that this guy on the radio is a jerk. Now that I know what kind of a guy he is I think I know how to bug him. Someday I’m going to really yank his chain real good..
Fred & Judy, SV WINGS, Baja
“WINGS, what do you have down?” the voice crackled through the radio without prelude.
We’d just arrived in Turtle Bay and after motoring around the anchored fleet had dropped our hook. Apparently one of the other skippers wanted to talk about our anchoring technique.
Something about this guy’s tone set me off, so my response was sarcastic.
“An anchor, why?”
“What type of anchor?”
“I have a sufficient anchor.”
“Hey skipper, this is serious so I’d like a polite reply. Several of us here have been here a couple of days and you’ve just arrived and it has been really blowing. Last night it was blowing 35 and we were up all night worrying and watching. We’ve all got about 200 feet of chain and we are concerned about you. You are pretty close to us. So what is your ground tackle?”
“I have a plow and chain.”
He gave up on us but soon he was on the radio talking to his friends and they were talking to each other about how concerned they were, about how difficult some people were to deal with, (meaning me), and the others were congratulating the guy on his diplomacy.
Obviously Judy and I had stumbled into an established fleet, and we’d offended them by anchoring within their territory. I’m also sure my radio response to the “Alpha Male” wasn’t properly deferential. Who knows in what other ways we had offended them. Right at that moment we were feeling pretty unwelcome.
So that is how our stay here at Turtle Bay got started. Judy and I both felt that we’d been in an argument and lost. Maybe I should have just told the guy to go to hell, or maybe I should have licked his ass. At any rate, we don’t like being the cause of continuing bad feelings so we raised the anchor and moved completely around the whole anchored fleet to the back of everyone, which ended the confrontation, but it sure left a bad feeling with us.
We learned two things from this encounter: One, be very careful what you say on the radio; everyone is listening. I came off badly in that exchange and we knew we’d have to live with the opinions that the members of this fleet had formed of us because of that radio conversation for a long time. Secondly, winning an anchoring dispute just isn’t worth it. People don’t have to be right to be territorial and aggressive. If you argue with them, you automatically lose, because even if you win the argument, the hard feelings will remain, and the cruising community is small.
We also learned that this guy on the radio is a jerk. Now that I know what kind of a guy he is I think I know how to bug him. Someday I’m going to really yank his chain real good..
Fred & Judy, SV WINGS, Baja
Labels: Mexico, Puerto Vallarta
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