Story Discussion: June 21, 2007 'Suzanne by the Sea' by drksideofthemoon

[Black Tulip]

I want to know if the story works. I tried something a bit different, at least for me, I went back and forth in time throughout the story.

So, just give me your general thoughts and impressions of the story.

Thanks in advance for your participation.

I know I'm late in joining this discussion. Off line life ...

I enjoyed the story very much. Like I said in the comment, the switching in time worked for me.

My main "complaint" is that some of the sentences, especially in the first half of the story, are a bit short. Kind of choppy. But perhaps that was your intention?

Some minor things about the use of "the", but I'll read the other comments first. Otherwise it's likely nothing else but repetition. LOL

 

[Black Tulip]

Yep, I was right. Varian caught the minor glitches. LOL

As for the ending, I think it would be better if you added something about her fears because he'll go out to sea again. Or will she ask him to find a different trade? Propose emigration? Or perhaps she comes to terms with the reality of her life as it is?

I agree with fleshing out the grandfather. Also the mother is too much in the background when Suzanne is agonizing and waiting. I know I would try to comfort my daughter, especially if I'd had the same experience. (and a daughter)

I know it's dangerous ground for a non-native speaker, but I want to say something about the language you used. I never read out loud because I would be tripping over words and sentences. But I usually hear the story in my head and this one sounded English instead of American. That's meant as a compliment, given the setting.

The image of sails you used to describe her clothes was very good in my opinion. Maybe I'm biased though, because I love sailing.

The memorial should be worded as a service to pray for safekeeping or something like that?

Regardless of the comments, it was a story that was very close to moving me to tears. Just a tiny bit more would have been enough.

 

[angelicminx]

The story started a little slow for me, and didn’t pick up much speed throughout. It’s not one that captured my attention from the get go and dragged me along for the ride. If not for the discussion, it’s not likely that I would have finished it. Only my opinion, mind you. That being said:

I like this line.

She was a cruel mistress at the best of time, and she never went unpaid.

This line was awkward for me to read, though I did understand what you were trying to say.

Each year that passed it could be counted on that one or more new names would be added to the memorial.

For what it's worth, I ran a passive sentence check on this story and came up with 3%. It's something I check for and try to eliminate in my own stories, so if you have the same concern pm an email and I'll send the file with the passive sentences isolated. If not, no big deal.



I've read a few of the comments, and I agree that I wanted more from the characters. I wanted an emotional investment. I wanted tears to spring to my eyes when Suzanne knew Sean's was the boat found. I wanted my heart to sing with joy when it was revealed he was indeed alive.

I liked the premise of the lecherous Lord, but it was a little disjointed for me. I was waiting for more to happen with it. Punishment for installing a lock without permission, greater conflict, more fire... I wanted to be able to shout at her triumph. I also liked the empty threat of bringing the King’s men.

As to Mad Mike. He feels like a character thrown in. I like the story of his nickname, but it might have been better told by having a young person asking why he was called that, and having an old sea dog explaining.

While I liked most of the places Sean's full name was used, making it feel 'Irish', there were places it just stuck out like a sore thumb. (I have those marked as well.)

The two mentions of it 'being a free country' could be tweaked a bit. One possibility is to just drop the reference. I do like 'You need not be asking...' It feels and 'sounds' authentic to me.

When the grandfather comes up to her and says her name, the exclamation point threw me. I couldn't figure out why he would be shouting, why he would be basically yelling at her for expressing her anger at the sea.

Nice catch by tickled kitty about the word 'okay'. That part seemed a little 'off' to me as well, though I couldn't figure out why.

I also think more could be done with the scene where Sean asks permission to court Suzanne.

The sex scene works as it is, for me.

While I generally like a happy ending, this one seemed a little too quick and easy.

I like the story, I like the characters, but I don’t have enough invested in them to wonder what happens later. Do you know what I mean? I’m going to read the rest of the comments now, and I’m sure that others have said what I wanted to say much better than I ever could. Thank you for the opportunity, Drk.

 

[Penelope Street]

The two mentions of it 'being a free country' could be tweaked a bit. One possibility is to just drop the reference.

The whole "'Tis a free country" thing is minor, but looks like several of us still stumbled over it, so maybe if a rewrite is in the works then it may be worth addressing. Since each instance has a companion sentence that works on its own, is there anything wrong with simply removing the two sentences in question?

I find myself wanting there to be some meaning in his return--how will it change their lives?

As for the ending, I think it would be better if you added something about her fears because he'll go out to sea again. Or will she ask him to find a different trade? Propose emigration? Or perhaps she comes to terms with the reality of her life as it is?

I was also unsure in what way Suzanne is changed by her experience. I think addressing this issue may help put the story in perspective and provide a more satisfying conclusion- even something simple like Suzanne saying, "Your son will not be a fisherman, Sean <insert last name here>, that much I promise you!"

... I particularly appreciated the structure you've chosen for this story, alternating between the two timelines. In subjective time, a day of waiting indeed lasts a lifetime, and the way the story imitated that was both a clever solution for dealing with the back-story and reflective of Suzanne's state of mind during the wait...

I didn't even think of that. The choice makes a lot more sense and I agree it is a clever idea.

Suzanne is very aware of the story, she does like it a lot.

Is it possible that the liberties you could have taken with the character Suzanne and the perils you could have put her in were both restricted because you were writing not only with a real Suzanne in mind, but also for her?

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I guess my main complaint is that I thought the characters were thin. They were types without much depth or individuality, and I thought their actions were predictable and in fact were getting dangerously close to cliche. I started looking for something to surprise and engage me, but it was all so familiar, from the brash and cheeky suitor to Suzanne's flashing Irish temper, the lecherous English laird, the wise and loving grandfather, the cozy cottage, the works.

It's something that's just so dangerous to us as writers. Something we have to always fight against. We've got to make our characters live. And it's not hard to fix. Break the mold. Have Suzanne out there furious at God and everyone under heaven for what's happened to her man. Have her threaten the ocean. These are real people. What do people do when they're in pain?

You've got an interesting problem here as an author too. You've got a dramatic situation that's entirely static. All Suzanne can do is wait, so you've got to conduct your action in flashback, which robs it of any immediacy. We already know how the flashback story turns out, otherwise Suzanne wouldn't be where she is when the story opens, so how do you make that story interesting? You have to do it through the telling, through the way that part of the story's told. You can't rely on the uncertainty of the outcome to keep the reader reading.

I'll leave it to the readers to decide whether the story told in flashback is compelling enough or whether it has the feel of filler, and whether it succeeds in tying itself to the problem at the beginning or not - the waiting. I think ideally it would. In Suzanne's waiting for Sean would be an echo of the problem presented in flashback, a kind of recursivity

I had a little trouble with the beginning. I thought it stuttered with those flashbacks - the switch from apprehension overlooking the stormy sea to the sunny days of courtship. They came a little too fast for me. It would have been nice to have seen maybe a change of style there, a switch to a more languid and elegaic voice for the courtship, something that gave it the taste of a reverie to contract with the storm and danger of the present.

But it was a very sweet and well-told tale with some very nice touches, very nice atmospherics.

EDITED TO ADD: Having just looked over the story again I notice now that's quite clearly labeled "Romance". If that means Romance as genre, I'd withdraw virtually all my criticisms. Romance lives by its own set of rules, and as a romance, I'd say your story is very damned near perfect. It's very sweet, very heroic, and very romantic, and that's just what a Romance is supposed to be. I'll leave my remarks up there for whatever use they might be to you, but I really think that, as an example of genre fiction, you've done a pretty admirable job.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

Sorry for being so late, Darkside; it took a week till I found time to read, but I noticed your thread right away and was immediately interested in the story, as a seaside dweller myself.

I just appreciate you taking the time to join in on the discussion.

In addition to the above, I particularly appreciated the structure you've chosen for this story, alternating between the two timelines. In subjective time, a day of waiting indeed lasts a lifetime, and the way the story imitated that was both a clever solution for dealing with the back-story and reflective of Suzanne's state of mind during the wait—synergy of form and content, indeed.

It's the first time I've tried something like that, and it's encouraging to find that it worked.

As for the imperfections, first things first, so let's start with the opening.

It could be said that the story begins where the text begins, so the half prologue, half dedication that preceded it caused me some distraction. In no way am I suggesting you shouldn't have thanked Suzanne and your editor, but maybe that the other half (the part about the plaque) could rather have been integrated somewhere inside the story. Hearing in advance the when, where, and a part of what, was somewhat of a spoiler.

Yes, I think I screwed up the formatting at the start of the story.

Then there's the real opening, and though I'm not of the school of thought that one should never, ever open with weather, I will say that the storm from your opening lines had some unfortunate Bulwer-Lytton-ish overtones. In my opinion, this could be remedied quite easily, simply by putting Suzanne on the scene first—a sentence placing her on the shore would suffice—then describing the weather through her perception. You'd have a better chance of immediately captivating the reader that way, with minimal interventions.

I had a discussion with the person that editted the story, in the original draft the scene where Suzanne was standing at the cliff is what opened the story. I think it would have been the better choice. And it's something I'm going to look closely at if I decide to do a bit of a rewrite.

Speaking of scenes, it was unclear to me throughout the first section whether we were inside a scene or not, and since I've noticed the same problem in other places in the story, as well as in your first piece, I think it's a habit to which you might want to give some attention.

You seem to take a middle road between 'now' and 'through a period of time', sometimes (or, between exposition and scene), and the result can be very disorienting for the reader. Seeking help of an editor sensitive to the subject might pay off, if only to help you locate the problem.

I do have to note that later in the story the problem disappeared and the scenes begun exchanging smoothly and with clarity, so my overall impression of the story wasn't nearly as affected as the above comment might suggest.

This sounds like good advice. The only explanation I can add is that the second half of the story (The dividing line is where the English lord has the confrontation with Suzanne's grandfather) was written about six months after the first half.

As to my next little quibble, it concerns the over-written and/or formulaically phrased places in the story. They're not that many, but they are noticeable, more so because bareness seems to be one of the main powers of your writing. Against it, purplish places seem to stick like sore thumbs.

By way of example, I could offer a sentence or two from more than one scene, but as not to be pointlessly nitpicky, I'll rather name the main offender. Sex scene, on the whole, suffered from this significantly.

I thought it especially unfortunate since you've laid the grounds for the scene in a way that assured all the potential for both tenderness and great eroticism. The scene didn't seem misplaced or forced into the story, either, but rather integral to its development. Some of the formulations were still hard to get past, though, and the genital nomenclature particularly.

I appreciate the difficulty of dealing with a chaste character in a period piece, but a better way out of it, in my opinion, would have been to work around the terms, instead of using so many, some of them pretty comical to a contemporary reader's ear. Your aim was realism, not impersonation of period porn, and in the sex scene I think you occassionally slipped into the latter.

You're not the first one to point this out, and it's something I will look at.

Should you ever go for a rewrite, all this shouldn't be a problem. The story as a whole works well and is conceived and paced well, and you'd only have to locate these few places of lazy writing and substitute them with something more powerful.

I have one more comment, about the ending, but that one's just for the sake of sharing a completely subjective opinion:

Maybe I'm a kind who likes to be cruel toward fictional characters, but the happy-ending lessened the story's impact on me. I was prepared for the inevitability of loss from the first lines of the piece, and that's what gave it poignancy; looking back at the sweet, simple things in the past, with the "nevermore" perspective of the present. When the two timelines converged (i.e. when there was no more back-story to tell and no more hope in the present), I was ready for the story to end and leave me to a bittersweet contemplation. The happy-ending took that away from me.

Sean's miraculous return from the sea, as joyous as it must have been in reality (at least, I hope that part is reality) didn't work that well for me as a reader of fiction. It made me feel as if I'd been lied to throughout, if that makes sense, or at least it did so for moment.

I toyed with the idea of a sad ending. I wanted to show hope. As I mentioned in the introduction, within a few days of this story coming up two fishing vessels were lost off of the south coast of Ireland in a gale. I think if I would have had Sean perish in the storm I might have felt a bit of guilt.

Overall, though, the story moved me deeply and struck a chord close to my own sea inheritance. Once again, thank you for sharing a very fine job.

Best of luck,

Verdad

Thanks for taking the time to read, and comment on Suzanne by the Sea. I do appreciate it.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

Yep, I was right. Varian caught the minor glitches. LOL

As for the ending, I think it would be better if you added something about her fears because he'll go out to sea again. Or will she ask him to find a different trade? Propose emigration? Or perhaps she comes to terms with the reality of her life as it is?

I had hoped the ending would make the reader wonder what would happen with them. Have them write their own conclusions in their minds after they finished reading it. The old leave them wondering routine.

I agree with fleshing out the grandfather. Also the mother is too much in the background when Suzanne is agonizing and waiting. I know I would try to comfort my daughter, especially if I'd had the same experience. (and a daughter)

I totally agree with you, and the others on this, and it's something I plan on adding.

I know it's dangerous ground for a non-native speaker, but I want to say something about the language you used. I never read out loud because I would be tripping over words and sentences. But I usually hear the story in my head and this one sounded English instead of American. That's meant as a compliment, given the setting.

Thanks, it was taken as such, and it was what I was going for.

The image of sails you used to describe her clothes was very good in my opinion. Maybe I'm biased though, because I love sailing.

The memorial should be worded as a service to pray for safekeeping or something like that?

Regardless of the comments, it was a story that was very close to moving me to tears. Just a tiny bit more would have been enough.

Thanks for taking the time to read it. I agree about the memorial service, and it's something I plan on changing. I'm glad you liked the reference to the sails.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

The story started a little slow for me, and didn’t pick up much speed throughout. It’s not one that captured my attention from the get go and dragged me along for the ride. If not for the discussion, it’s not likely that I would have finished it. Only my opinion, mind you. That being said:

Well, you can't please all of the people all of the time.

For what it's worth, I ran a passive sentence check on this story and came up with 3%. It's something I check for and try to eliminate in my own stories, so if you have the same concern pm an email and I'll send the file with the passive sentences isolated. If not, no big deal.

This is something that I've just recently started looking at. And when I do the rewrite, it's something that I will reduce to 0.

As to Mad Mike. He feels like a character thrown in. I like the story of his nickname, but it might have been better told by having a young person asking why he was called that, and having an old sea dog explaining.

Good point.

While I liked most of the places Sean's full name was used, making it feel 'Irish', there were places it just stuck out like a sore thumb. (I have those marked as well.)

I asked Suzanne about this, and she said in Irish culture the use of both names is to reinforce what is being said. In her words, "I love you Suzanne McDonough" would carry more weight than "I love you Suzanne", just as "And where have you been this evening, Jerry McGuire?" is stronger than, "And where have you been this evening, Jerry?"

The two mentions of it 'being a free country' could be tweaked a bit. One possibility is to just drop the reference. I do like 'You need not be asking...' It feels and 'sounds' authentic to me.

LOL, you're not the first one to bring this line up.

When the grandfather comes up to her and says her name, the exclamation point threw me. I couldn't figure out why he would be shouting, why he would be basically yelling at her for expressing her anger at the sea.

Hmmm, I'll have to go back and look at that.

Nice catch by tickled kitty about the word 'okay'. That part seemed a little 'off' to me as well, though I couldn't figure out why.

I also think more could be done with the scene where Sean asks permission to court Suzanne.

The sex scene works as it is, for me.

While I generally like a happy ending, this one seemed a little too quick and easy.

I like the story, I like the characters, but I don’t have enough invested in them to wonder what happens later. Do you know what I mean? I’m going to read the rest of the comments now, and I’m sure that others have said what I wanted to say much better than I ever could. Thank you for the opportunity, Drk.

I think you did a fine job. And thanks for taking the time to offer your suggestions.

 

[_Lynn_]

I have just a few points, and since this is the first time I'm here, I hope it's right.


The beginning was a bit distracting with the prologue/dedication and thanks to the editor combination. It's great to want the editor to have the credit they deserve, but it felt as if it was dropped in the middle and became awkward.

Varian already pointed out the little errors I saw, so I won't repeat those.

I would have liked Suzanne's mother to play a bigger role in supporting her. She'd experienced the emotions Suzanne had to be going through, yet she was in the background. I wanted to feel the bonding of a mother/daughter as they waited together.

In the end when Sean shows up. I don't know exactly what I think could have been there, but more something.

Overall, I enjoyed it. It's good but it doesn't have that emotional pull that I know you can put into it.

 

[Verdad]

Break the mold. Have Suzanne out there furious at God and everyone under heaven for what's happened to her man. Have her threaten the ocean. These are real people. What do people do when they're in pain?

You and I don't disagree too often, but I have to say I thought the quiet tension of the time ticking inexorably away more veracious and powerful than I would have overly dramatic reactions. De gustibus, eh?

You've got an interesting problem here as an author too. You've got a dramatic situation that's entirely static.

Excellently put. I guess that's why I was very impressed with how it still worked, or at least it did for me. The 'arch' through which the story took me wasn't of change in character, but of change in my involvement; from appreciating the situation only on an intellectual level (yeah, sad) to really feeling for these people as they became real to me.

As for thinness of character, I agree with everyone who pointed out the situation with the lecherous lord. That part did strike me as contrived and alerted me to look for other cliches.

I toyed with the idea of a sad ending. I wanted to show hope.

I had the same thought as Penny: perhaps writing with Suzanne in mind constricted you in some ways. But I do understand your desire to show hope, and it's just given me an idea. Perhaps you could have some members of the crew survive, but not Sean? That way you'd show some hope, but not undermine the credibility of Suzanne's pain. I wouldn't make a big drama out of it, though (as in everyone's happy, Suzanne's heart jumping, but there's no Sean), because that strikes me as deliberately cruel and manipulative toward the reader. What I mean is just a quiet closing, where we'd get to learn that so-and-so and so-and-so did return, whereas Sean didn't; such was his luck.

At any rate, it's just a thought. Thanks again for giving us something interesting to discuss!

Best,

Verdad

 

[dr_mabeuse]

You and I don't disagree too often, but I have to say I thought the quiet tension of the time ticking inexorably away more veracious and powerful than I would have overly dramatic reactions. De gustibus, eh?

Yeah, I see your point. I said that before I saw this as an example of romance genre though.

The thing about genre fiction is that we want it to be fresh while still delivering those elements we expect in a romance or a western or whatever the genre happens to be. That means it has to be predictable to a large extent and characters and situations can't deviate too much from type or the readers will be disappointed. We read genre because we want to feel the same things we felt before. You can't start throwing in madwomen like I suggested. I withdraw the suggestion.

How you doing, V? When you ready to get back to work?

 

[Verdad]

How you doing, V? When you ready to get back to work?

Is there an appropriate fee?

(And don't withdraw anything on my account! I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say it's great to see you speaking here.)

 

[drksideofthemoon]

I guess my main complaint is that I thought the characters were thin. They were types without much depth or individuality, and I thought their actions were predictable and in fact were getting dangerously close to cliche. I started looking for something to surprise and engage me, but it was all so familiar, from the brash and cheeky suitor to Suzanne's flashing Irish temper, the lecherous English laird, the wise and loving grandfather, the cozy cottage, the works.

It's something that's just so dangerous to us as writers. Something we have to always fight against. We've got to make our characters live. And it's not hard to fix. Break the mold. Have Suzanne out there furious at God and everyone under heaven for what's happened to her man. Have her threaten the ocean. These are real people. What do people do when they're in pain?

You've got an interesting problem here as an author too. You've got a dramatic situation that's entirely static. All Suzanne can do is wait, so you've got to conduct your action in flashback, which robs it of any immediacy. We already know how the flashback story turns out, otherwise Suzanne wouldn't be where she is when the story opens, so how do you make that story interesting? You have to do it through the telling, through the way that part of the story's told. You can't rely on the uncertainty of the outcome to keep the reader reading.

I'll leave it to the readers to decide whether the story told in flashback is compelling enough or whether it has the feel of filler, and whether it succeeds in tying itself to the problem at the beginning or not - the waiting. I think ideally it would. In Suzanne's waiting for Sean would be an echo of the problem presented in flashback, a kind of recursivity

I had a little trouble with the beginning. I thought it stuttered with those flashbacks - the switch from apprehension overlooking the stormy sea to the sunny days of courtship. They came a little too fast for me. It would have been nice to have seen maybe a change of style there, a switch to a more languid and elegaic voice for the courtship, something that gave it the taste of a reverie to contract with the storm and danger of the present.

But it was a very sweet and well-told tale with some very nice touches, very nice atmospherics.

EDITED TO ADD: Having just looked over the story again I notice now that's quite clearly labeled "Romance". If that means Romance as genre, I'd withdraw virtually all my criticisms. Romance lives by its own set of rules, and as a romance, I'd say your story is very damned near perfect. It's very sweet, very heroic, and very romantic, and that's just what a Romance is supposed to be. I'll leave my remarks up there for whatever use they might be to you, but I really think that, as an example of genre fiction, you've done a pretty admirable job.

Thanks for taking the time to read Suzanne by the Sea, and for leaving your comments. I do think some of your criticisms are valid even though the story is a Romance.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

I would like to thank Penny for allowing me to submit Suzanne by the Sea for discussion. I would also like to thank everyone that took part for the time and effort they put into this thread.

I think I am going to go back to this story and do a bit of a rewrite on it, and maybe resubmit it here for discussion at a future date.

Unless anyone else has anything to add, I think it's time we moved on to Angelminx's story.

 

[Penelope Street]

I have just a few points, and since this is the first time I'm here, I hope it's right.

Thanks for joining us! And it's definitely right!

 

[Penelope Street]

I do think some of your criticisms are valid even though the story is a Romance.

Me too. I was so lost regarding Doc's reasoning that I couldn't help but wonder if I misunderstood the essence of a romance even though in my twenties I must have devoured countless paperbacks that claimed to be just that. Not wishing to steer the discussion away from the story, I chose not to ask- but I'd love to revisit the topic sometime when we don't have another active discussion.

Unless anyone else has anything to add, I think it's time we moved on to Angelminx's story.

Sounds like a cue to me.

I would like to thank Penny for allowing me to submit Suzanne by the Sea for discussion. I would also like to thank everyone that took part for the time and effort they put into this thread.

You're welcome to the extent that I helped, but I think we should all be expressing our gratitude to you for allowing us to discuss your story! Hosting a discussion takes so much more angst and effort than participating in one.

Thanks Bunches,
Penny

 

[angelicminx]

Me too. I was so lost regarding Doc's reasoning that I couldn't help but wonder if I misunderstood the essence of a romance even though in my twenties I must have devoured countless paperbacks that claimed to be just that. Not wishing to steer the discussion away from the story, I chose not to ask- but I'd love to revisit the topic sometime when we don't have another active discussion.


Sounds like a cue to me.


You're welcome to the extent that I helped, but I think we should all be expressing our gratitude to you for allowing us to discuss your story! Hosting a discussion takes so much more angst and effort than participating in one.

Thanks Bunches,
Penny

Sounded like a cue to me as well, but I wanted to be sure so I waited a little while. I'll get that up as soon as I can. Thank you.

I'll second that, Penny. I'm grateful to have the opportunity to discuss your story, Drk. Thank you very much!

(Ps. I'd like to revisit the Romance topic as well. I don't know that I will have anything to say, but I'd love to see everyone's views.)

 

[DeeZire]

Sorry I'm late

loved the story
loved the language (especially the dialogue)
loved the characters
loved the sea
loved the rain
loved the church scenes, even if the characters were wearing underpants. (my favorite church scenes involve people wearing no underpants.)
loved the sex scene
loved the sex scene
loved the sex scene
now I'm going to go cry

 

[sirloy]

It might strike as pure semantics but in the following

Mad Mike had gotten his nickname in a storm when he had tied himself to the rudder.

the rudder is the part that is in the water while the arm that the helmsman uses is the tiller.
Of course this has no effect on the story.
S

 

[Penelope Street]

It might strike as pure semantics but in the following the rudder is the part that is in the water while the arm that the helmsman uses is the tiller.
Of course this has no effect on the story.
S

Semantics count- good catch! And if Mike did tie himself to the true rudder during a storm, that would make him pretty mad.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

It might strike as pure semantics but in the following the rudder is the part that is in the water while the arm that the helmsman uses is the tiller.
Of course this has no effect on the story.
S

It was a mistake that I caught not long after submitting the story. It should have been he tied himself to the mast....and it's something I plan on changing when I do a rewrite on the story.

 

[Penelope Street]

Ok, my idea of a nautical adventure is a dinner cruise down the river on a paddlewheeler, so maybe it's obvious to everyone else, but why would a man tie himself to the mast? Is it that he believes the boat will stay afloat, but he can't stay in it? If so, this seems kinda like the opposite of mad.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

Ok, my idea of a nautical adventure is a dinner cruise down the river on a paddlewheeler, so maybe it's obvious to everyone else, but why would a man tie himself to the mast? Is it that he believes the boat will stay afloat, but he can't stay in it? If so, this seems kinda like the opposite of mad.

I think basically so the waves coming over the boat don't sweep him away. Have you ever watched "Deadliest Catch" on the Discovery Channel? Some of the footage is pretty incredible.

 

[Penelope Street]

I think basically so the waves coming over the boat don't sweep him away. Have you ever watched "Deadliest Catch" on the Discovery Channel? Some of the footage is pretty incredible.

I must have missed that one. Maybe it's on at the same time as "What Not To Wear" on TLC. Some of that footage is pretty incredible too, but I guess I didn't make my point.

Tying oneself to a rudder seems plenty wacky, but tying oneself to a mast looks entirely sane from where I'm sitting- so why would anyone call him mad for it?

 

[sirloy]

I think I can see it. The rest of the crew were taking shelter in the bow but he was out exposed to all the elements.

S