41. Teamwork [100 poems challenge]

41.          Teamwork

Load anchor, and bailers, and fenders, and mast,
And don’t forget gaff and the boom,
The spinnaker helps if you want to go fast,
The jib and two oars take up room.

When all the gear’s loaded aboard, my lads,
Sing “Haul, Scouts, haul”
We’ll launch with the help of the mums and dads
Sing “Haul, Scouts, haul”.

A trailer downhill has a mind of its own,
Reversing or hauling by hand,
We just cannot wait until muscles have grown,
We manage, though we’re undermanned.

When trailer and boat are immersed, young pup,
Sing “Haul, Scouts, haul”
The launch will be smooth if the centreboard’s up
Sing “Haul, Scouts, haul”.

We step the tall mast, and we anchor the stays,
Ensuring the halyards are reeved,
The mainsheet has rigging that seems such a maze,
But finally all is achieved.

With rudder in place, cast the lines, my boys
Sing “Haul, Scouts, haul”
The slap of the wave on the bow makes noise
Sing “Haul, Scouts, haul”.

With sails neatly trimmed so that they do not luff
And tiller to navigate by;
We’re now well prepared should the going get rough:
If needed, the sheets we’ll let fly.

When sudden winds gust in the sails, good friends,
Sing “Haul, Scouts, haul”
We don’t want her standing on her beam ends
Sing “Haul, Scouts, haul”.

We tacked and did reaching and jibing and such;
We sailed ’til the sun nearly set
And each did his job with more confident touch
(Quite glad that we didn’t get wet).

At voyage’s end it was time, dear mates
Sing “Haul, Scouts, haul”
To pack all away and then lock all the gates
Sing “Haul, Scouts, haul”

So each took a duty and after not long
The boat was all shipshape and clean
Now muscles are sore but I’ve finished this song;
When we go again I’ll be keen.

But one vital lesson I’ve learned, dear crew
Sing “Haul, Scouts, haul”
That teamwork pays off in the jobs we do
Sing “Haul, Scouts, haul”

1 June 2013

Comments: I went sailing with Scouts today [the day I wrote the poem], essentially for the first time. This involved lots of organising of gear and using of muscles, and a whole bunch of new instructions and routines (it’s sooooo much easier to go kayaking: I could have loaded the kayak on my car, driven to a launch point, got organised and paddled across the river in the time it took us to rig the boat*!). When I remembered that “Teamwork” was the theme for today, it seemed obvious that a sea-shanty should be written. The idea was a good one, I think, but the execution is less successful: I wrote it partly as an aide-memoire for all the things that have to be done, partly as an account of the day’s events (which included the trouble we’d had launching because the centreboard was down and catching on the trailer, and the gust of wind that really had us keeling over a bit), and partly as a paean to teamwork … which ended up being a bit moralistic because it was late and I was tired and subtlety had been lost overboard somewhere between the beginning of the poem and the end. As for a tune for this sea shanty, I’m baulking at the idea, but it would be doable I believe.

* To be fair, it was an unfamiliar boat, in an unfamiliar location, with a steep boat ramp, and Skip (Georgie) was trying to get us to do most of the work.

Themes to come: 42. Standing Still; 43. Dying; 44. Two Roads; 45. Illusion; 46. Family

Explanation about the 100 poems challenge here.