markpierce wrote:
*That's about what I'd expected.* At least it's not just me.
*No, it's not.*
Many years ago I shot for a Matson TV commercial on board their then-brand-new roll-on/roll-off ship
Matsonia.* The commercial followed a new farm tractor from the manufacturer in the midwest to a ranch on the Big Island in Hawaii via rail and Matson.* My job was to get some "at sea" footage on the ship on the voyage from Oakland to Hilo.
I was on the ship's*bridge when we left Oakland and stayed there filming*until we cleared the Golden Gate.* The
Matsonia had a nice comfortable seat right at the point of the bow behind a Plex windscreen.* There was an intercom there and when the ship was entering or leaving port a crewman sat in the seat and provided warnings to the bridge*about smaller boats that might present a problem because these boats were sometime invisible behind the bulk of tthe ship stretching forward of the bridge.
It was a nice day and there were a fair number of sail and power boats on the bay, although I suspect not anywhere near as many as there are these days.* And the running commentary from the fellow in the bow seat and the captain and others on the bridge left a permanent impression of how we in our toy boats are viewed by the pros.
The entire time across the bay it was:
"There's another one of those f*cking cruisers coming at us from the left.
*[interestingly, all directions on the ship were given in terms of right and left, not starboard and port. There were even two huge signs above the forward bridge windows, one in red with a big arrow that said "Left" and the other in green with a big arrow that said "Right."]
"Goddam*ed sailboaters, they don't know jack-sh*t about sh*t."
"What's the matter with that dumba*s in the white cruiser?* Doesn't he f*cking see us?"
"This stupid f*ck*in front of us doesn't have a f*cking clue that we're here. Give him a blast so we can watch him sh*t his pants when he looks around."
And on and on and on.* A lot of the commentary was actually very funny albeit not at all complimentary to the "stupid f*ck" in the boat in question.
I've heard similar commentary when riding the flight decks of commercial airliners all over the world.* Only there they are talking about general aviation aircraft that are operating on the same airfield.* I've ridden BA 747-400s from Europe to the West Coast, Air Malta 737s and A320s between London and Malta, and a lot of other stuff in between.* The accents change but the sentiments don't.* With few exceptions the pros regard the amateurs as pond scum.
-- Edited by Marin on Tuesday 21st of February 2012 06:03:54 PM