My Boat Bitch

Sailing in Seattle June 2018

Two years ago, in August 2016, I walked into the Sloop Tavern after a Ballard cup race and met this tall sailor dude. Life hasn’t been the same since.

Eric is my lover, my friend, my companion, and my boat bitch. I know some may think this is a mean or belittling term. However, this is one of our terms of endearment and one he gladly takes to heart. He’s the best boat bitch a skipper could ask for. In this blog I intend to illustrate why.

He’s the boat savant. Let me give a few examples of what this means.

• He walks up to a boat he doesn’t really know. Looks it over, up and down for about 30 seconds, then says: your pin is lose in your main sheet rigging. He’s right.
• A boat sails by in the Sound, maybe a quarter mile away and he says what kind of boat it is, the designer, some history of the ratings and uses, says the name and the owner and sometimes even has the past names and owners.
• One day we were walking down a dock and he sees a boat he hasn’t before and says, that’s from 1936. I freak out about how he is the boat savant, then he starts to laugh and point. 1936 was written on the smoke stack. Eric is super observant, and a funny guy.

Tacoma Tall Ships Show 2017

He’s abnormally strong. I can give a million examples of watching Eric pull, lift, and push things that shouldn’t be moved by one person or without leverage of some kind. The dude is a machine. He’s also super hawt…especially in his suns out Guns out shirt!

Lopez Island breakfast after their July 4 fireworks anchored out on Poopsie

He can fix just about anything. Little Eric use to sit in his room reading popular mechanics and taking things apart to put them back together again. Ya, he likes that stuff and is good at it. It also helps that he’s a scientist in his day job and is super smart.

Fixing my cooling system in Friday Harbor after our first break down

He loves the fact that I am independent and didn’t want to depend on all of his skills and 23 years experience for me to sail or own a boat. I didn’t want to defer to him or rely on him. What I did want was to be supported and encouraged by him. So when we are tearing into my cooling system and exhaust he enthusiastically and very thoroughly teaches me how to do it and why things work the way they do. When I take sailing classes of any kind he listens and shows interest, wanting to know what I learned. He’s even taken a couple of classes with me so we could be on the same page.

My 43 birthday party on Poop Deck

He loves boats. He loves me. Enough said.

Most importantly though, Eric is kind and patient and has a great sense of humor. That’s the best kind of boat bitch a gal could ask for!! Thanks Eric!! I love you!!