*Jerry recently acquired his first boat, a 27' ft sailboat. It's missing a few things, like an engine, sails, interior, but he only paid one dollar for it and is enthusiastically acquiring needed things. He convinced Sam, a live aboard that has been at anchor for about a year here in Gulfport FL, to take him out in his sail boat to show him the ropes.
The two sailed south out to Egmont Key and were unable to make it home before dark so they sailed into some shallow water and dropped hook for the night.
The next morning they awoke to rough seas with a strong current and wind pushing them towards the key. There happened to be a Coast Guard vessel nearby that could see that they were struggling with the current. The CG radioed them and asked if they were in need of assistance and advised them that they were being blown into a shoal. Sam replied that they were under control but struggling to make way, I'm not exactly certain about the content of that conversation but the CG decided to board him.
Jerry is watching the CG dinghy approaching through the glasses saying "Oh shit, they're coming" over and over, Sam at the helm informs Jerry it is a good thing they are about to be boarded because it's very rough and he is afraid of running aground in a bad place.
When the CG boards Sam tells Jerry to take the helm while he goes down for his papers and goes below, one of the guardsmen stayed on the deck high enough to be hit by the boom. Jerry has only sailed the day before, the seas are still rough and the vessel is still caught in the current, so of course he makes an accidental jibe and swings the boom hard across. The guardsman caught the boom and hung on as it swung him and was able to hook his boots into the top life line. Sam runs topside when he hears the guardsman yelling "get this vessel under control" and took the helm back.
Jerry is still kind of freaked out about sailing, but knows he'll never forget the surprised look on the coastie's face on his first time out sailing.
*obviously not their real names
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