In Search of a Proper Title
Except for cooks and stewardesses, the overwhelming number of crew on large sailing yachts are male. But there are exceptions. In fact, at any big boat center — St. Martin, Antigua, Newport — there are always a couple of boats with a gal, invariably young and attractive, who is one of the deckhands. And we’re not talking about a token princess deckhands. These gals are smart, strong, gutsy, and wear their minor wounds as a source of pride. They like to think of themselves as being one of the guys, but they aren’t. They look and smell too good, and are usually more responsible and mature for their age.
We got to thinking about this the other day when we were looking through our photos of last year’s Voiles de St. Barth, and came across this photo of an attractive gal singlehandedly flaking the massive mizzen aboard Sir Peter Harrison’s much traveled Farr 115 Sojana. Note that she’s about 15 feet in the air and well aft of the boat’s transom. We suppose there are a lot of guys who find voluptuous young actresses in gowns and heels on red carpets or Playmates naked near a pool to be particularly attractive. Not us. Tan, fit and knowledgeable — we think that’s a very attractive look in a young woman. So here’s looking at all you gals!
By the way, since flaking a mizzen on a 115-footer is such a big job, we think it deserves its own job title. Any suggestions?
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