Chapter 21: Attrition

Culling the herd. More attrition than a deliberate culling. Some grew bored I guess, packed up, called somebody to pick them up and left. A few just disappeared. Abandoned all their camping gear, but took their clothes. Some were forcibly taken away. Family or friends would arrive. An argument ensued, resulting in the camper being coerced or surrendering to pressure, packing up and leaving with those who came for them. ICE raided and took away a few illegals. Within six months, the original forty dwindled to a mere dozen women, and I consider them the best of the lot. Except for Sally. She’s tenacious and remains with us still. We have reached an understanding of sorts, a safe outlet for our aggressions. Sally suggested it. She gets horny once or twice a week and we try to smash each other’s pubic bones on those occasions. All in fun.

One of the factors that precipitated the exodus was sheep. I finally bought some St Croix. Their odor is apparent. Another factor was the DIY boat yard. The noise of grinding, sanding, and power buffing is apparent.

We found our niche market. Catamarans up to thirty two or three feet long, with many between twenty five and thirty feet. Bigger boats have masts too tall to pass under the bridge just north, downstream of us. Whether you consider it a man made screen, it preexisted our marina. So far we haven’t turned anyone away. We have a doubled boat trailer we can adjust to the width suiting different multi-hulls.

Other yards and marinas, and I haven’t heard of any who don’t, charge one and a half rates for catamarans. A thirty foot catamaran pays the same rate as a forty five foot mono-hull. We don’t charge this penalty for the extra width. Makes us popular with multi-hull sailors. Works in our favor too. Requires less investment in equipment. Multi-hulls don’t need jack stands, just wood blocking so they aren’t sitting on the ground. They do need screw anchor tie-downs, and those are required by us and we charge for installing them, even if they are already installed for a previous boat using that spot. All yards require multi-hulls on the hard be tied down. Some yards charge all boats daily rent for every jack stand used, in addition to the per foot yard storage. We just charge a one time small upfront flat fee for the tie downs installation or for setting up jack stands. Nothing extra for the blocking. Keel boats don’t need tie downs but do use jack stands. No one has complained yet.

New structures have been built. A separate men’s bath house equipped with it’s own toilets and a trough urinal. At one end is a ramped extra-wide entrance for handicapped access to a family uni-sex bathroom. Parents feel more secure taking their children into the private bathroom. Some couples prefer using it together. Including some impromptu couples, a sailor and a camp girl for example. Romance or moonlighting, it’s none of my business.

We built an indoors dining room with a screened veranda for alfresco dining. For the campers only. Boat owners are only permitted in the dining room if they advance purchase a weekly meal ticket. There is no refund for missed meals. No one is forced to buy a meal ticket but if one is bought, the food is prepared for them. No-shows are the buyer’s loss, not our fault. The meal ticket is posted in the dining hall like employee of the week. Like a wanted poster.