Oh I have plenty...I'll start with stories from my youth...

I was around 6 and we were bringing our boat, Traumerei (42ft Al Mason sloop), which was also now our home, from Illinois, down the Mississippi. We were tied up to a wharf for the evening when this huge barge came by and the swell it left in its wake knocked Traumerei up against the wharf which in turn knocked open all of our kitchen cabinets. My mom must have seen it coming because she was flying down the companionway stairs to secure the cabinets when glasses started flying everywhere. She was cut pretty badly on her hand which in turn made me start to scream bloody murder. In the end we had a big mess on our hands, glass was banished from the boat (except for 2 rocks glasses for my parent's happy hour drinks) and the cabinets were always secured, even when we were on the dock. A few butterfly bandages later and she was as good as new.

Same trip but we had just exited the Mississippi and were in the Gulf. My parents had hired a local “professional” to help us navigate the buoy system and many sandbars that were in the area. This was long before GPS. It was getting dark and the “professional” that they hired had them going one route and my mom kept looking at the chart, going down below and doing some plotting, coming back up and scanning the horizon when she finally said to my stepdad, “I think we are supposed to be over there.” My stepdad questioned the “professional” and he sloughed it off and said we were fine. A couple minutes later after looking, plotting and scanning again my mom said, “I really think we are supposed to be over there.” At this point the “professional” says to my mom that we are fine and my mom says to Willard (my stepdad), “I really don’t think so.” So my stepdad says to the “professional,” “I’m turning this goddamn boat around and going where my wife thinks we should be. The “professional” then says, “I’ve been sailing these waters my whole life, I know what I’m…” BAM we hit a sandbar so hard I’m surprised none of us went overboard. I was sitting in the companionway and it knocked me down the stairs and onto the cabin sole. Traumerei listed to port so bad that water was pouring over the side and making its way into the cockpit and soaking the cabin. Everyone scrambled to get the sails down, and I was told to get on the radio and call for a mayday. I quickly put the cabin door hatch in and sat on that damn radio calling Mayday for what seemed like hours before the Coastguard finally responded. At that point we realized we were on a sandbar, the tide was continuing to go out, so we were now basically on our side but no water was coming in through the keel and we were relatively safe. The Coastguard informed us they would not be coming because we were not in danger of sinking. My mom argued with them and first said, “I have a 7 year old daughter who I would really like to see turn 8 years old.” So the Coastguard offered to come and get me and my mom off the boat. My mom then said that she couldn’t leave the boat because her husband was blind. The Coastguard then said she should have told them that in the first place and they came out, plucked me off the boat, waited for the tide to rise a bit and towed Traumerei off. Man did I love that Coastguard boat! Hot chocolate with marshmallows, cookies and warm blankets…heaven. We went straight to port and hauled out the boat to check for damaged. Believe it or not there wasn't any. The "professional" all of a sudden had a family emergency that he had to go back home for. Hmmmm.

Now about 7 we were still making our way to the Caribbean but now in Florida. We had hired Chris Doyle to help us on the voyage. It ended up being quite the eventful trip as we had engine issues and some rigging issues so stopped in St. Thomas to get the engine fixed and new rigging. Set out from St. Thomas to Grenada and in the middle of the passage lost our steering. Ended up losing our rudder and had to steer by sail. Chris, my mom and my stepdad ended up making a rudder type steering system that hung over the stern of Traumerei. Once we got close to Grenada we took the sails down and used the engine (it was miraculously working at this point)
and our jury rigged rudder to limp into port. That trip I learned all about how to sew a sail because as many of you know, steering a boat by sail is very sloppy! Chris Doyle wrote a great article about this experience in Captain’s Compass a few years ago. Quite an interesting read. Link to the Chris Doyle article: http://doyleguides.com/the-traumerei-delivery-sailing-without-a-rudder/


I was probably about 10 years old and we were anchored in Charlotte Amalie. Engine was not working (pretty common event on Traumerei) and we were on our way back to Grenada to have it looked at so we were lifting anchor under sail. Main is up, pretty good breeze blowing, oh and I was the windlass as we didn't have a windlass back in those days. I was struggling to get the anchor up so my stepdad, frustrated with me, thinking I'm being a wimp goes at it and he can't get it up. It is off the bottom so we are basically sailing it around the harbor. Obviously, something is wrong so my stepdad tells me to go take the wheel and yells for my mom to come up. I'm freaking out, trying to sail through a crowded anchorage without hitting another boat while they try to get the anchor untangled with whatever is on it. Luckily, our friend Champy saw me at the wheel and mom and dad on deck and came over to lend a hand. It ended up being a huge coral head which Champy managed to get untangled from the anchor.

I have lots more stories but those are for another day.