Anise

As we were getting settled into our berth in the Las Palmas marina, a delightful young French woman hailed us from the dock. Anise was her name and she was looking for a boat to join to get to the Caribbean, then on to Brazil.

As a way to poke fun at the Skipper, the running joke among the crew is that they might want to jump ship for a better boat, and here was a chance to find a substitute. 

I was just leaving to fetch John Hoopes's gear from the ARC offices, so I invited Anise aboard to be "interviewed" by the crew. Then I was off.

Returning 15 minutes later, I came across the Coach walking along the quay.

"How did the interview go?" I asked.

"Oh, very well. You and Joules are in the V-berth now, and John and Anise have moved into the aft cabin."

"That was fast. What was the clincher?" I asked.

"She says she can cook crepes," was the reply.

But when I got back to the boat, Anise was nowhere to be seen. It turns out that after speaking with her a bit and letting her know we were all set for crew, papa Coach had advised her to be very careful which boat she consigned herself to.

"Best ye know who you're crewing for or ye might regret coming aboard," he told her.

He then told the story of an ARC boat from a few years back. The Canadian skipper had recruited an English woman and Scottish man from these docks as crew, and they set off. Mid-passage, the Skipper started getting out all the knives on the boat and arranging them on the foredeck, fondling them and uttering threatening words.

The English woman was a nurse and recognized bipolar behavior when she saw it. She proceeded to set off the EPIRB as a way to be rescued. ARC authorities ordered a 68-foot vessel to come to their aid, and the entire crew was taken aboard, the Skipper against his will. The boat was set adrift.

When they finally got  to St. Lucia, the Skipper emerged stark raving mad from his quarantine in the V-berth and the V-berth had been destroyed.

With that story told, Anise was off, presumably still searching for a boat to join.

Anise brings to no fewer than 10 the number of people who have approached us seeking to join our boat as crew since we starting flying the ARC banner in Gibraltar. An ARC berth, it seems, is a highly prized commodity.