Getting ready for the full moon party here at Trellis Bay, should be fun

Getting ready for the full moon party here at Trellis Bay, should be fun. They burn huge piles of wood inside of metal spheres with great artwork ai the openings in the shallow water of the bay.

Because it is a giant beach party, a lot of people come here. Most of these people are charter boats driven by people who love sailing but can only enjoy part-time. 97% of these people are good fun people with enough skills to sail.

But 3% of them do not.

As I was coming into Trellis Bay today there was a traffic jam. Two cats my size were ahead of me. The first cat pounced on the first mooring ball they saw, the second cat was following too closely, made a sudden turn and wrapped their starboard prop on another all. I slowed down, of course, to allow these folks to sort themselves out.

Then a Moorings 42.5 monohull named La Diva decided to *accelerate* around me, while towing their dinghy on a grossly long painter, and then when they realized the traffic jam, doubled down and accelerated further to come across my bow. I had to do emergency reverse on both engines to avoid collision. He then went on to do an enormous number of figure 8's and turns at high speed bouncing his dingy into several boats.

I calmed myself.

Then I pulled back out into the channel to let all this bullshit to settle down.

Then I came back in, threaded my way through the busy anchorage, found a great spot near both the Loose Mongoose and Aragorn's that had enough space for me to drop my hook. Then another big cat came up fast on my rear. He wanted to go around me. Sure, no problem, I ferry-walked Ad Astra between two boats, to let him race ahead. Then drifted back into my place, and finally set my hook.

I feel like a I have passed a milestone:

* I did not track him down and yell at him in front of his family.

* I did not force him into a collision with the other boats, but instead gave way

* I did not go back and cut his mooring lines and allow his boat to drift into the reef.

But the night is young.

Originally posted on Facebook on July 20, 2016.