.:Sailing Lessons:. [Cash and Leo]

[carbonflight]

Sun reflected off the turquoise ocean, the reflection glowing in a sandy tomcat's eyes. Leo came over the dunes, dragging a small boat behind him in a sort of cart. On it's side was inscribed in blue letters, still gleaming in the sun from the fresh varnish, was the name the Windcutter. He wiped a bit of sweat off his forehead and walked around to the back of the boat. Bracing his back paws in the sand, he slowly eased the boat down to the beach.

The tom lead his boat through a path cleared through the driftwood to the white, sandy beach. Cats covered the beach, milling around, talking to friends, and bathing in the sun. A few kits played in the crystalline waters.

[urbangirl98]

Cash lay on the sand, away from the other cats. He silently watched the rolling waves as they lapped at the shore, letting the wind style his messy fur.
Cash spent many a days at this beach, spending as much time as he could away from his studies here. Today was a special day. Cash could feel it. So when the gleaming boat came rolling onto the sand, the young teen broke into a grin. He jumped up to marvel at the fantastic handy work. "Amazing." he whispered, his voice snatched away by the wind.
Cash silently made his way over the tom pushing the small boat. "That is an amazing boat you have there, sir." he commented, seemingly coming out of no where. He read the words printed carefully across the side. The Windcutter he mouthed.

[carbonflight]

The tom raised his eyebrows at the young cat, then instantly realized he was much too young to buy it. He thought of sighing, but didn't want to sound rude... "Ah, that she is," he beamed, patting the little boat's hull, "not the slightest bit fun to make, or to bring over, but sailing it," he nodded his head, "aye, that would make it all worth it." The tom looked out to the ocean for a moment, pretending to be lost in thought. "The name's Leo," he shook the younger cat's hand, "joiner, I make boats for a living." He pointed at himself proudly, the pretended to look at him thoughtfully, "Say," Leo cocked his head at Cash, "do you know how to sail, lad?"

[urbangirl98]

Cash shook his head. "No I don't know how to sail." he said, still amazed that Leo had made this boat himself. Cash perked up, breaking into a large grin. "My name is Cash." he announced. "Leo, you are the best boat maker in the world." He looked at the boat, then back at Leo still grinning. "Can you teach me to sail?" he asked hopefully.

[carbonflight]

Leo raised his eyebrows, "Well, I wouldn't say the world," he joked, pretending to be modest, "but thanks! I'd love to to teach you to sail!" He beamed, young cats were the best, always eager to learn. He couldn't wait to talk with this "Cash" more. "Grab the bowline, and I'll push," he nodded towards the boat, then noticing Cash's bemused look at the word "bowline", he added, "It's the rope at the front of the boat," he preceded to explain to Cash about all of the directions on the boat as they made their way down to the ocean (Starboard meant right, Port was left, the bow was the front and the stern the back) until they made it down to stoney part of the beach where the water met the sand.

[urbangirl98]

Cash's eyes brightened as he ran for the 'bowline' as Leo had called it. He grabbed the rope, and pulled as hard as he could, hardly containing his excitement. He had seen the older cats out in their boats, and finally, Cash was going to learn to do it himself! They got it to the water, though, Leo hard done most of the work.
Forgetting his sore arms, Cash ran up to Leo, bouncing on his toes. "Lets go!" he pleaded. "Please." he added.

[carbonflight]

Leo beamed at the youngster's enthuseasm, and nodded, "Yes, let's!" He raised a fist in the air dramatically. "Okay, Cash, because you're new at this, and we're doing on-the-job training, I'm going to have you sit on the bow, just so you don't get hit by the boom-" noticing his pupil's confussion he corrected himself, "-that's the big swinging part that comes off the mast, I mean this." He patted the mast of the boat. He watched as the young tom scampered out onto the bow, then he pushed the boat into the water, hopping in after it and grabbing the rudder and the mainsheet. "Now," he nodded, "this is the rudder," he pointed to it, "it controls where you go, steers and such. This is the mainsheet," he pointed to the line comming out of the end of the boom, "You use this to control the speed and catch wind." He nodded to cash.

[urbangirl98]

Cash's eyes lit up with excitement as he climbed up to the part of the boat Leo called the bow. When the boat hit the water, Cash was greeted with a spray of cool water. Cash turned, seeing Leo was explaining how the boat was steered. "How can you steer if there is no wind?" he asked, looking up at his new friend.

[carbonflight]

"Well, young tom, if there was no wind the real problem would be moving, not steering," he winked. "But, no, I know what you mean, I probably wouldn't go out if there was no wind, however, if the wind just suddenly stopped, I'd have to swim the boat back in. But that rarely ever happens, there's almost always a bit of wind. I'd just have to adjust the sail on the mainsheet," he raised it to his pupil's eye level. "Now, more on the the mast and catching wind and the like: You always want to catch as much wind as you can. You can usually tell how much wind you've got by the sail, but when there isn't much, you have to see which way the wind is blowing and make sure that it's all going strait into the side of the sail!"