I was teaching a pretty good kid how to take a line

in when sailing from a ship the other day.

Now the problem is that the ship is much higher than we are and the ships deck crew can not really do much except hold the end of the line so we can snap it out of their hands. You jerk it so the entire line comes over our deck and gravity takes over.

The object, of course, is to have the entire line land on our deck so that it doesn't get wet and heavy and have to be dragged out of the water.

I demonstrated to him with the first line. Then the next three were his to try.

Of course, the line fell straight into the drink. I put my left hand into my hip pocket, and pointed at him with my right in the manner of a Simpson's related internet cartoon. "Ha Ha!" I said, and then helped him drag it out of the drink.

The next time he missed and I repeated the "Ha Ha!" schtick. This time I let him drag it out of the water alone.

The third time he got it and the line fell onto our deck with a satisfying clatter.

The kid has spirit and was pretty satisfied and rightfully proud of himself. He turned to me and put HIS left hand in his pocket, pointed at ME with his right and said, "Ha Ha!"

I grinned.

It feels pretty good to pass on old school skills to the younger guys.

Especially the ones that want to learn.

Some don't. I remember telling someone about some disinterested kid that was sent me to train.

"He didn't want to learn anything, so I didn't teach him anything," I said.

This other kid was different and it was a joy to teach him.

my other blog is:http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/