Not at all a Tall Tale
Bailing Dories
A dory is a flat-bottomed rowboat with high, flared sides amidships and a sharp prow. Dories are stable boats. You may have seen one in the 1937 film, Captains Courageous.* The dory-bailing contest was held every spring at the harbor festival. It was a crowd pleaser. Two, twenty-foot dories were strung bow to bow between two opposite docks. Their sterns were tied to those opposite docks. The docks were crowded with spectators to watch three locals vie against three Coast Guardsmen. The locals were the Wilson brothers who rigged a plastic bait box with duct tape and dowels for handles, designed for easy heaving of seawater. Their partner was armed with a five-gallon bucket and a plan. Their opponents had a 30-gallon plastic barrel manned by two Coasties, and one fellow swung a five-gallon bucket. The dories were filled half-way with seawater, making them sloppy and tipsy. The goal was to empty the boat as quickly as possible. The rules said nothing about where to toss the water. The brothers bailed over the side, while their partner bailed into the Coast Guard boat, drenching the Coasties. After a while, one Coasty caught on and soon everybody was soaked. It was great fun and the locals won.
Again, thank you Rev. Peter Panagore and Daily Devotions
A dory is a flat-bottomed rowboat with high, flared sides amidships and a sharp prow. Dories are stable boats. You may have seen one in the 1937 film, Captains Courageous.* The dory-bailing contest was held every spring at the harbor festival. It was a crowd pleaser. Two, twenty-foot dories were strung bow to bow between two opposite docks. Their sterns were tied to those opposite docks. The docks were crowded with spectators to watch three locals vie against three Coast Guardsmen. The locals were the Wilson brothers who rigged a plastic bait box with duct tape and dowels for handles, designed for easy heaving of seawater. Their partner was armed with a five-gallon bucket and a plan. Their opponents had a 30-gallon plastic barrel manned by two Coasties, and one fellow swung a five-gallon bucket. The dories were filled half-way with seawater, making them sloppy and tipsy. The goal was to empty the boat as quickly as possible. The rules said nothing about where to toss the water. The brothers bailed over the side, while their partner bailed into the Coast Guard boat, drenching the Coasties. After a while, one Coasty caught on and soon everybody was soaked. It was great fun and the locals won.
Again, thank you Rev. Peter Panagore and Daily Devotions
Replies
I learn something every day from you, Jack. Thanks for expanding my world.
Now you know how to win a dory bailing race... :-)
Interesting...I was doing some bailing just this morning. I\'m laying electrical conduit in a trench and it keeps getting full of water. I blame my neighbors with their automated sprinkling systems.
Never set sail in a boat without something you can use for bailing. Around here people just call 911 on their cellphones, not the smartest way to deal with a leaky boat...especially offshore where there are no cellphone towers.
ooo, sorry to hear about the extra work. I\'ve peeked in on your project -- you\'re a better man than I!
Do they really? See, I think we need more predation to prevent this sort of thing... But failing that, we could simply not respond to such calls and that would improve the gene pool too.
Great entertainment!!
Glad you like it!