Week 12 Story: The Sailing Race

Photo by Thom Milkovic on Unsplash

Bibliography: This story was inspired by Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree from the Celtic Fairy Tales (1) from Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs (1892).

 There once lived a man off the coast of Australia in a small area known as Botany Bay. His name was Daniel, and he was a rotten old man. Every year the bay had a week-long sailing competition. He had only one rival: Captain Bill, who was genuine and kind. During this sailing competition, the goal was to see who could sail the fastest. At the end of the week, the judges would average their scores and announce the winner.

At the start of the week, Daniel asked Concorde the flying fish who was the fastest sailor of the bunch. The flying fish replied, "Why, Captain Bill of course." This angered Daniel, and he set out to sabotage Captain Bill. On the first day, he tried to ram his boat into Bill's, but Bill's boat was superior; it had rubber sides that protected it from collision. However, the impact of the boats hitting together knocked Bill to the floor, hitting his head.

Daniel, sure of his success, once again asked the flying fish who was the fastest sailor of the bunch. The flying fish replied, "Did you not hear me before? Captain Bill, I said." Daniel was annoyed. He gather supplies and decided he would spray-paint Bill's main sail. Surely, this would upset the captain so much that he could not be the fastest sailor.

So Daniel asked the flying fish again, who was the fastest sailor? And Concorde responded, "Listen, you! Captain Bill is the fastest sailor of the bunch."

Upon seeing his sail painted and rude messages written across it, Bill was upset, but he had a spare sail back home he'd use the next day instead, and so he won the race that day again.

Daniel was infuriated. At this rate, he was going to have to do something drastic to win the competition. And so, in the middle of the night, he snuck into the harbor and poked a bunch of holes in Bill's boat. And he approached the flying fish with pride, asking one last time who was the fastest sailor. The flying fish had had enough. "Captain Bill. Do not ask me again. Leave me in peace!" Daniel rolled his eyes. What would a stupid fish know, anyway?

But the next day Bill's boat did not sink. The holes Daniel had caused did not penetrate far enough and so it had little to no effect on Bill's boat. Bill didn't even know there were holes.

At the end of the week, Bill won the race and was titled the fastest sailor. Daniel, angry and ashamed, finally gave up.

Author's Note: 

I really enjoyed the tale of Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree. It reminded me of the story of Snow White where the queen asked the mirror who was the fairest of them all. My story was actually a combination of G-T/S-T themes and real-life experiences from my time in Hawaii. I took a week-long sailing camp and also helped out on a manta boat, and I thought a sailing competition to see who was the fastest sailor would be a good way to incorporate the competitive themes from the original folklore story.