Ding!!

It's a well-know fact that sculling boats and stationary objects on the water have a mutual (and strong) attraction. Yesterday, pulling hard against the wind, concentrating on the stroke (and not on my rear-view mirror) heard a loud bang, the shell and I came to a shuddering stop and some blood was running down my arm.

What happened was: shell bow ball hit a channel marker Now, how can that be? The marker was all of 8" in diameter, one of only 10 marking the channel, and the 10 were widely spaced. What're the odds? A zillion to one? Not in a shell. Mutual attraction at work. The blood? Well, it was low tide, and barnacles were exposed for about 2 feet above the water. So the boat hit (chipping off a piece of gelcoat) and I kept on going, sliding down the marker till I stopped the boat with my elbow.

Who says this isn't a contact sport. The damage to both me and the shell isn't serious, though I will make some repairs to the shell and gave the scrapes on my arm some thorough attention, barnacles being a well-known source of infection.

Lesson? Duh...look behind you (or in the mirror) every few strokes.