Saturday morning saw the last trip of the year starting off at Gulf harbour. Ramp not too busy at launch time and we were soon skimming our way out to middle ground. What followed was a relaxing day of talking bull, laughing and getting the occasional fish. Bruised banana did most of the damage and fish seem to be in great condition and feeding hard on the bottom. Late afternoon saw a snotty little souwester get everyone rushing back to the ramp at the same time…..this is where it got interesting.
We joined the queue and there were around 25 boats waiting patiently. I did some timing of the retrievals and longest was around 5 mins with the best clocking in an impressive 2m15sec. Well done that man. As we approached the pontoon a little gin palace came from behind the wall, passed about 8 boats behind us and tried to squeeze in front of us. Shouts of ‘Yo, excuse me’ rippled through the fleet and after some choice words were exchanged he managed to back out. Now this pillar of the community was at the helm of a big asked boat named THE GODFATHER and the Don looked to be accompanied by the wife and two grown sons and he was not giving up on making sure that he was going to do this his way.
One more legitimate entry tied up behind us and lo and behold, the Don was back. He then snuck back in at the end of the pontoon and once more the cry of WTF went up. But no, it appeared he was just dropping of one of his lieutenants (this is what he told us)….perhaps the fine young man had an urgent need to fulfill. At this point I would really like to mention how pleasant and helpful everyone on the ramp was. There was everything from solo fishers to mums and kids trying to control and move along the boats with a stiff little breeze trying to make it more difficult. Everyone was really great and everything kept moving and made it a pleasure, until……..
Our turn was up and suddenly a ute and big trailer that I did not recognize came rushing down the ramp and stopped at just enough of an angle for, you guessed it….the Don was back. With the very high tide he managed to sneak back in along the shore and drove straight up the trailer, also a no no but at this stage the least of his transgressions . As recoveries go, his was one of the quickest but that did little to endear him to the crowd of tired sunblasted boaties waiting their turn. During this process the Don (and Mrs Don) stayed firmly seated on their little palace and his only contribution to the colorful exchange was to say “ We are from Canterbury and that’s the way we do it” and with that they left in a cloud of righteous dust.
The saddest thing was that they seemed very proud to have pulled this off. Well done Don, and Mrs Don, you have taught your pups that it is ok to lie and cheat to get what you want by not respecting those around you. In hindsight it would have been great having some pics or a vid but we were all too busy holding boats and helping each other, you should try it sometime. If indeed they come from Canterbury, and will return there, then I feel sorry for Cantabrians…this they don’t deserve. If by some great misfortune la familia have relocated to Auckland then we have truly got the hind tit, but on the brighter side it means our paths will almost certainly cross again and when that happens we can see if we can teach you how we do it in Auckland. So Don, we are not angry with you. Just very disappointed.
To all, a fun and fishy new year
We don't know what we don't need till we've got it