One of the best things about living on a boat is the spirit of community in our little marina. Neighbors know each other because we all have a common bond in boating.

I think you would be surprised at how many single women live on board -- and maintain their own boats. The Divine Esther lives right across from us on her Bristol 34' CHB Meri Mate.

The Divine Esther

Intrepid Ina is a favorite ex-neighbor who has lived on board her Rafiki 35, Flying Lady, for 15 years. She left the howling winds of South City, and her fan club, for the fair weather of Alameda, just across the bay. Actually, I think she left us for the beautiful bathroom at the Oakland Yacht Club.

I got home to the boat a bit late the other day. The sun was well over the yardarm and after feeding the cat (please note the order of these events - cats always come first!), setting down my purse and checking the phone messages, I was just getting ready to start dinner when the phone rang. I thought it might be Sweetie saying he was going to be late. As it turned out, it was my friend Mary Buckman. She was calling from her cell phone while dangling 15 or 20 feet off the deck of Shantung, her 33' Cheoy Lee Clipper Ketch.

Mary

Mary lives on board Shantung with her cat, Harry, on our dock at Oyster Cove Marina. It seems that while Mary was doing a bit of maintenance on Shantung's wooden masts, the loop of her new, improved, miracle mast-climbing device became tangled around one of the dorade vents on deck. The poor dear girl could neither ascend or descend. Thank goodness she had thought to bring her cell phone aloft with her, tucked safely into the pocket of the bosuns chair.

Mary and Harry

Ever the resourceful lass, once Mary realized that she was in a captive position, called our mutual friend, Bob Hodson, to get my phone number. I suppose that from her elevated position aloft, she had seen me coming down the dock. After chatting with Bob for a while, she dialed me and told me of her predicament. I gladly dropped everything and headed down to rescue poor Mary.

As I was walking down the dock, I could see Mary dangling there. We had a bit of a laugh and a conversation as I drew within shouting distance. After I arrived at Shantung, I realized that I had forgotten my camera. Events like this don't grow on trees you know, and I have words to fill each and every week.

Shantung

The event that came immediately to mind happened last summer when Sweetie fell off the boat and into the drink. He was yelling for me to put the boarding ladder down. When I told him "wait just a minute, I want to get the camera," he yelled even louder. With that memory still vivid in my mind, I decided it would be best to first free the offending line and set Mary back on her way up the mast. Once the emergency was doused and I was sure that Mary was safe, I headed back home to get the camera.

By the time I had returned, Mary was again happily sanding the masts as if nothing had ever happened. "Don't sweat the small stuff, and it's all small stuff" is her motto.

Kim Haworth is an active boater who lives on board and spends every free weekend on San Francisco Bay.