Some part had broken. The “handler” – a man the boat company sent to hand off the new boat to the Boss – ordered a replacement part from England to arrive tomorrow. Tony called his French contact – a man who might as well be the Godfather of boating in Southern France for his sketchiness, smoothness, and ability to pull the most elusive parts from thin air – and got a new part delivered this afternoon. Then Tony fixed the boat.
I helped! After he replaced the part, we siphoned oil from the system and cleaned up and, once the handler arrived, saw it necessary to do some “sea trials.”
For them, it’s just another day at the office.
For me, it was an extraordinary adventure and I was glad I brought my camera.
We saw St. Tropez...
We saw other boats…
…and then left them in the dust.
There’s honestly nothing like going 60mph on the water, where the world whizzes by and the boat literally catches air when you hit a wave too big.
“You need a pilot’s license to drive this,” the handler said to Tony.
At that speed, the wind catches your sunglasses – and whatever else it can wind its way around – and rips them away. The handler told us a story about a woman he took for a ride at a boat show. He told her to watch her glasses because the boat goes so fast she might lose them. Having had a few too many glasses of wine, she giggled and waved his warning away. When the boat reached its pique speed, the wind made an example of her.
She had been wearing a button down shirt. Instead of claiming her glasses as its victim, the wind wound its way around her buttons, ripping them open one by one. Before long, she was in nothing but her bra…and sunglasses.
Anyways, back at the house, we all worked hard to clean it up quickly. Everyone pitched in – me, the handler’s wife, even Tequila…
Life can’t be so bad when a hard day’s work includes playing with your bosses newest toys.
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