The fateful story of my oars

Post date: Jul 02, 2015 7:5:33 PM

When I left the boat in Stonehaven after stage 1, I used one of my dingy oars to paddle my way to the boat in a dilapidated dingy. Thinking this dingy was part of the harbour furniture I left the oar in the dingy to use on my return.

However, upon my return the oar was no more. Appropriated by some enterprising individual. I have been oaraly challenged ever since and now that I have potentially greater use of the dingy one oar does not cut the mustard. So I planned to buy a new pair in Tobermory. Unsurprisingly you cannot buy them individually.

Walking purposefully off the pontoons in Tobermory heading for the chandler, I noticed someone lovingly applying a new set of oars to his dingy. He was wrapping some red tape around them to make them fit the rollocks better. At the chandlery I enquired after some oars only to be told that they were fresh out of oars as the last pair had just been purchased just an hour or two before. Curses, I thought, I know just who that inconsiderate sole was.

That evening I anchored in loch Sunart as did a number of other boats. I planned to spend the evening working out the pattern of my next few passages. As I started on this task a barbeque gathering was forming on the shore and people from some of the boats around me were dingying over. Clearly a yacht club posse. One of them came by and invited me over as I was obviously in need of company and supper. A most generous invitation which I quickly accepted.

As I got into his dingy one of his oars got dislodged and he mentioned that they were new oars that did not fit quite right. Then I saw they had red tape around them. I suppressed my indignation that he'd got to those oars before me and simply told him that I needed new oars too as one of them got stolen. He said that he'd lost one oar and still had the other one which he no longer needed.

That orphan oar got a new owner so I now have a full complement of oars. This bloke had paid £50 for his new oars so I insisted on going halves. He declined but suggested I give my half to Honeypot, my charity.

So I get my 2 oars and Honeypot gets £25. Oh, and I had convivial company, beer and barby courtesy of the Comedy Yacht Club. What a happy conclusion. All is forgiven.