- Date: April 8, 1987
- Location: Cairns, Queensland, Australia
- Subject: Ding Dong Dinghy
Dear WaterFairy:
My day today started out quiet. I was planning to read my new book, “Judy’s Journey”, which I love!! Even though it is a few years below my reading level, I still love it. Mostly because it is about a girl my age, and she goes on adventures with her family, kind of like me, but in a car.
Shortly before lunch ,Capt came buzzing back to Sacha-B from doing some errands ashore. He told Mom and me to get into the dinghy because he wanted to show us a surprise!! HUM-as we all know, that could be good news or bad news! Mom looked a little worried, because she does NOT like surprises, especially from Capt. But the last surprise, the BBQ was great, so we thought maybe he is on a roll.
We jumped into the Big Red and motored across the harbor and landed at the beach of the yacht club. Capt jumped out and ran over to a very nice, new, white fiberglass dinghy with wood trim. It had a big white bow on it. “What do you think, girls?” he asked, smiling like crazy. I said, “I love it! It is really cute, like a sports car!” Mom just said, “Do we own it?” Capt said, “Yes, we do darlin’. Big enough for the 3 of us, but small enough so you girls can easily handle it on your own. We can stow it on the deck over Leah’s hatch when we are sailing, and it doesn’t have any leaks.” Mom just shrugged and said, “OK Captain, whatever you think is best.” I could tell she was a little irritated with this decision made without her, but as she said, “I have to pick my battles.” so I guess this is not THAT important to her.
To celebrate, we went to the yacht club for lunch. We seem to be “celebrating” quite a bit these past few weeks. Mom said at this point it is just easier to eat out than mess around in the galley while we are packing and reorganizing for the trip. Plus it is almost cheaper to get a counter lunch special than make the meal at home.
Capt said I could name the dinghy! Which is great, but I just didn’t have any ideas what to name her. Mom came up with a good idea, as usual, and said I could ask everyone I knew, who was having lunch at the yacht club today, to come up with a name and then I could pick the one I liked best from their suggestions.
I got six suggestions and they were:
- Off-ya-go
- Seaya Leah
- Chicken Tender
- Ding Dong
- Dinghy-B
- B-Along
Oh my GOSH…. Great names all of them. I had a hard time deciding but in the end……..I chose……..Capt Brian -from Sunshine and Whiskey suggestion……..dom……dom……dom……. Ding Dong. I love it and I love saying it and I really love singing it!!
Capt bought Brian a beer for being the winner. Brian’s wife Tracy is a hairdresser, so while all the excitement of picking a name was going on, Mom made arrangements for Tracy to give us all haircuts. Right after lunch, we all went down to the dinghy beach in front of the yacht club and got clipped. Tracy said she NEVER goes anywhere without her hair cutting kit. She said there is always someone who wants a haircut and she can always make a little bit of pocket change. Capt got a buzz cut, Mom got a little trim and I got about 2 inches snipped. I can still pull my hair back into a ponytail, which is all I care about. Maybe I will go to school to be a hairdresser so I can always make some money no matter where I am.
We put the outboard on our new dinghy-Ding Dong and headed back home to Sacha-B. I got to drive, which was so exciting…It was so much faster and easier to handle than the old dinghy. We are selling the old dinghy to the Cruising Yacht Squadron up the creek.
Tonight, we will have Brian and Tracy, and Hannah- Tracy’s daughter over for “Happy Hour” because they have never been on board. Now it is time for me to do some research on the sea urchin. See you in a few days.
