Very Obvious Warning Devices

We had just sailed in to Opua to clear customs after a fine passage from Tonga and saw a friend from San Francisco standing on the wharf. “Hey Richard,”Larry yelled, “What you doing down here?” Richard, normally a very boisterous type, signaled he’d talk to us later, then climbed down onto what looked like a very new boat where several folks stood around looking more than a bit distressed. It turned out the boat was in fact on its very first sea trials, a million dollar special built in New Zealand for an American owner.