Men! Or should I say, Dads?

After a couple of hours, my dad was able to track down the Fatty Knees dinghy and its occupants - driving around the lake and visiting each dock until he found the one that they were closest to.

Apparently the husband deliberately was never raising the sail more than halfway, because he thought it was too windy to do anything more, and of course that meant that they couldn't go anywhere.

My dad, who claims to know how to sail, said that was just plain ignorant (and I'd be willing to bet cash money that husband - who reads the Alexander Kent naval books, was basing his actions on what he read of how the galleons and sailing ships in those books, and others in the same genre, worked.)

In any event, my dad says, "I could have taught them all they needed to know in 5 minutes."

I didn't ask, "Well, why didn't you then?" I just said, "Why didn't you go with them?

And he said, "Well, I thought B (my sister) knew a little bit about what she was doing." That doesn't really hold water, though, because it was obvious when she was out for ten minutes with her son, that she did not have a clue what she was doing.

And my sister had said several times before my dad told her, in essence, "on your way", that she thought maybe they should try rowing first, that it should have been extremely clear that she didn't feel she was ready for doing the sail thing - and frankly that she had expected him to come with her and show her the ropes!

And what I'd like to know is, why didn't my dad, when my sister had gotten to shore, just say, "Hey, I know a bit about sailing, let me go out with you two and show you what's what."

Instead he let the brother in law get in and off they went.

I suspect this is because he doesn't like my brother in law (neither do I, come to that), and so was just resigned to letting the brother-in-law find out how much he didn't know. (Which he did.)

So now my dad tells me my sister is thinking of taking lessons (smart girl!), and he's saying that's a waste, as he could teach her what she needs to know in five minutes. And again I'm thinking - why the hell didn't you do it, then?

But my dad is 78 - an extremely fit 78, he literally looks like he's 60 - and I'm thinking he was just scared to be in a 9 foot boat with 2 other people. Well, he should have "checked out" my sister, to put it in pilot lingo, before letting her go out with her 13-year old son.

An inept operation all around, and while my dad seems to blame my sister and brother in law, I am more inclined to blame him.

Not that they weren't in good spirits when they returned (they are keeping their boat and trailer at our house, and my dad is part owner of it), but there was a lot of time wasted and my dad was sitting around for 2 hours or more, wondering where they were, when if he'd utilized an ounce of common sense he would have been with them.

Well, sorry to vent, but this type of crap just makes no sense to me. Again, they were in a dinghy that was never going to turn over if they'd done the wrong thing (as opposed to a narrow-hulled sailboat that will turn over if you tighten the sail at the wrong time), but it all could have been avoided if my dad had just said, "Let me give you a check-ride, because I can tell you're not too comfortable to be sent out on your own." And if he couldn't have told that, he wasn't paying much attention!