Boat Reflections
19Mar2006
Yesterday marked the start of the Saturday Sailing Season. This is normally a day I relish, but yesterday was different;
- because I was feeling slightly “tender”, and
- because it was blowing old boots.
Actually, it started out blowing baby bootees, then progressed to blowing new boots, but by the end of the day they were definitely old boots.
After several hours of big gusts, cold salt water baths, nautical curses and the odd broach, the J24 fleet made their way back to dock. This is normally a time for great reflection, and indeed, we were reflecting upon how bananas had such a reputation for bad luck on boats. Sailors, diving and fishing charters seem to have a particular aversion to the yellow, crescent shaped fruit. So how do bananas get transported around the world – surely Chiquita doesn’t send all their shipments by air freight so as not to annoy boat captains? And do cruise lines have a ban on banana fritters or banana splits for the same reason? Does that ban extend even to banana-related things, like singing the Banana Boat song on board a boat? If it does, my Cruise Ship Karaoke career may be over.
I decided to think about this in more detail, and came up with my own theory, which I call the Bananas on Boats Luck Index (BOBLI). The theory breaks down as follows:
- Calculate the length of the boat in feet (l)
- Divide that number by the number of bananas on board (b)
- Divide that result by the number of engines or methods of propulsion (p)
So if you had 1 banana on a 10 foot row boat, you would have a 1000% chance of having bad luck – (10(l)/1(b))/1(p)=1000% BOBLI. 2 bananas on a 45 foot fishing boat with 2 engines would give you 1125% BOBLI. But if you had 100,000 bananas on a 300 foot container ship with 2 engines, your BOBLI would only be 0.15%.
I think my theory proves how big banana companies like Dole can transport their fruit in bulk with minimal risks – they obviously have their own version of BOBLI which they use for risk assessment.
Either that, or I’m just bananas.
Hello
Ugh, “feeling tender” and then sailing…. the hangover would have been a 3000x multiplier on the index.
Beautiful photo, by the way.
Ciao da Mauro, Italia.
Very calm photo. Hope everyone gets their bananas from the Windward Isles
LMFAO-that is so funny. I didn’t know that bananas could make math fun!
I never heard of it “blowing old boots”–sounds kind of smelly:)
Yes, and the official 1st day of spring is upon us. Calendars lie.
Is it only bad luck if the bananas are yellow? Maybe it makes a difference if they are still green when they are shipped? Or maybe they have an anti-bad-luck index that fits into the equation. A song that they sing at 12:02pm to counteract the bad luck. But then what about time changes?
So thats why my boat tipped over — I had 2 bananas on a house boat!!!
have fun
Sporty Chick – thanks, and yes, the hangover does multiply the index.
Mini Driver – not sure where the term ‘blowing old boots’ comes from, but it’s very appropriate
aimee – I read that one famous skipper in history only stopped red plantains from coming on board. The rest he allowed.
author312 – you prove my theory…
nice post
funny post.