Sabrina's Sailing Adventures

Hello! My name is Sabrina Evans; I’m an Australian-shepherd mix female dog. My adoptive parents are Tom & Vicki Evans. My adoptive dad keeps saying he is going to write about my adventures sailing, but he’s been such a slacker lately I decided to do it myself.

I don’t know much about my biological parents; they haven’t been in the picture since I went to the Animal Rescue League, two ago, where Tom & Vicki almost immediately adopted me. I don’t remember much, accept it smelled bad and it was really noisy with everyone talking (barking) at once. Anyway, now I’m a teenager (14 in dog years).

This last year has been busy and I don’t remember everything, well mostly I’ve only forgotten the stuff from obedience school - heh, heh. I do remember my dad (Tom) saying how expensive it was to have me around (they use to have a cat), But I can tell you that I’m a whole lot cheaper than that sailboat they got. I dream of all the dog chews and toys they could have gotten ME, with the money they have spent on that boat.

I first saw the boat in our driveway. It was kinda cool. Dad carried me up a ladder to sniff it out. It passed the sniff test. I found all sorts of places to check out. Of course I had plenty of time to look around because my parents would have "boat drinks" in the boat, IN THE DRIVEWAY, and they forced me to get in the boat with them. I was so embarrassed! I stayed in the cabin so the neighbor dogs couldn’t see me.

The first time I went sailing was last May. It was pretty boring for me. First off, we drove to this lake about 50 miles away - REAL SLOW, because we were "trailering the boat" whatever that means and road was full of potholes and dad didn’t want the boat to sway. Didn’t he know I had BUSINESS to do as in potty business or PB? Then he took hours to get the boat ready to be put in the water. I think it was his first time. The mast would start to go up then back down, he would fuss with some wires then up again, then back down, some wire would get caught on something hanging of the back, then up again. Dad is so un-cool about this stuff. Finally he is all done then he has to back it into the water. There was plenty of yelling going on but at least they weren’t yelling at me.

When it came time for me to get in the boat, I just jumped right in, no sweat. Dad pulled on a rope attached to something hanging off the back. It made a noise, and we started moving. I ran from side to side, looking at the water rush by. IT WAS GREAT. In almost no time, the noisy thing hanging of the back stopped making noise and Dad pulled on different ropes and this big sheet thing came out of the tall pole thing and we started moving again. Of course then we started leaning all the time, first on this side then the other side. Every time we switched sides, I’d have to get up, stretch, go to the other side of the boat, circle 3 times and then finally lay back down.

Sometimes, I would go in the cabin, or even in the special Sabrina spot. It was so special my parents had to spell the name in front of me. It was "V" something; I’ve never understood the rest.

Like I said most of my sailing trips are pretty boring for me. But sometimes things get really exciting.

Like the first time they took me ashore to do business (that potty business (PB) thing again). We drove the boat up next to this flat wood sidewalk thing next to the edge of the lake. Mom jumped on to it first, so I thought that meant I should jump on it too, only when she jump the boat moved further away from the wood sidewalk and when I jumped I didn’t make it to the wood sidewalk, I fell straight down into the water. I went UNDERWATER. I had to kick real hard to get back to the surface and dad was reaching down and grabbed my collar but I must have looked pretty funny because dad was laughing so hard he couldn’t pull me in the boat. But I got him back. As soon as he did pull me into the boat, I shook as hard as I could and got water all over everything, especially him - he was as wet as I was. I never swam before, and I didn’t like it. I can tell you, I never jump for the wood sidewalk any more.

There also was the time dad and mom were taking the boat out of the water. The boat was on this rolly wheel thingy. I think dad calls it a trailer. Well this rolly thingy came unhooked from the truck and started to back down into the water. I was looking out the back of the truck, thinking "Hey guys, somebody do something! My chews are in that thing". Well, dad just flew out of truck and managed to rescue my toys. Thank you dad.

One of the things I like the best, is when we stay on the boat all night, then in the morning dad takes me ashore for PB. After PB, He usually finds a semi-sandy spot next to the water and I run back and forth in the lake’s edge just as fast as I can go. The water splash so high, I get completely soaked. I run so hard and so long, that I just collapse and I sleep the rest of the day - Heaven.

Sometimes, dad blows up this small raft, and then he rows me to shore for PB. That is big fun. I feel like a princess on the royal barge.

One time, in the morning, the back of the boat was like, you know, 10 feet from the shore. So dad, let out more rope on the front of the boat and we moved the back of the boat closer to the shore until we could just jump out on the beach. Girlfriend let me tell you, can we talk? Did I run that day. I ran and ran and ran, back and forth. But then dad tried to catch me so I thought he was playing a game like tag or something. So I always stayed just a little bit out of his reach. We went for miles up and down the beach, it was so much fun, and finally I got really tried and let dad win by catching me. He’s really slow, maybe if he lost a little weight, laid off the beer, or something. The bad part about that morning was I think I hurt my leg on the rocks because, I kinda limped for few days after that.

Of course, weeks later, I hurt my leg running really fast in my own back yard. My doctor, Dr Barb, said I had an ACL knee injury just like my human sister Holly had. So they had to shave my leg, and cut my leg open and sew something up. Then Dr Barb wrapped my leg up like a pirate’s leg. I’d stomp around the yard for a few days before she took it off, I wish I knew how to say "Argh!" That would have been cool. My leg hurt and itched for a long time but I got all sorts of treats from Mom. She even gave me these things called pills. They made me tried and goofy, but I’m getting better now. And my leg is just starting to get fur back on it too. Maybe by next sailing season I’ll be ready for the beaches.

Sailing may be boring to me, but I’d rather go with my un-cool parents than stay at home in basement. And of course a run on the beach is the best.

Well, I better go before dad gets home from work and finds me typing on his computer.

Sabrina Evans
S/V Tom's Foolery