Sailing Acrobats

Both Stylish and Indy consider the lines aboard their own.  Yes, fine, we might need them for actual sailing now and again, but, as far as they are concerned, the lines are mainly for climbing.  We have had to set strict rules about the whens and hows of such activities.  Early in our voyage, Erik looked up from the deck to find Stylish most of the way to the spreaders.  Not wanting to scare her, he calmly asked her to come down, and we had a little talk about potential energy and how perhaps she didn't want to earn herself a wheelchair at age six.

At anchor, we often fix the spinnaker pole over the water, attach a line, and let the girls swing off the deck into the water.  Before long, they gave up on the ladder altogether, and were climbing back up the line again, monkey-style.

Out...

...and up again.

Often the girls package the activity around a game of some sort - pirates, princess acrobats, princess-pirate acrobats. They have missed climbing since we have been in the marina. Call me a rotten mother, but if my kids are going to climb, I'd prefer they had a soft landing. So their games have moved in other directions.

But imagine their excitement when the circus came to town. And not just any circus - acrobats who perform on their own boat.  For the past few days, La Loupiote has been in our marina, performing two shows a day. And, so far, we have been to all of them.

The early show is aimed at kids.  A couple of bumbling sailors work on their boat, skying halyards, knocking each other over, and generally taking a slapstick approach to life aboard.  The kids around me at the first performance laughed themselves sick.

Of course, all this fun led to the inevitable conversation:
"Mom," said Stylish, "if they can do tricks up high on the lines, why can't I do that, too?"
"Because their Mom is nicer than yours," I said.
"Mom."
"You show me your transcripts and degree from Circus School, and then we'll talk."
"Mo-om!"

But I'm not all mean, you know.

The girls are resigned to waiting until we can set the spinnaker pole out again, but I don't think I've heard the end of the acrobats. Rumour has it these people offer lessons aboard their boat.

I wonder if they teach adults, too?