Sand Boats - Take Two

After our second winter here, Fran decided that there were probably sand boats every year. Above you can see the sand boat from our second year here. At first, we thought it was pretty funny that people would leave their boats tied to the sea wall on the beach, or tethered to buried anchors in the bay, for the winter, and then winter storms would come and wreck havoc with them.

Of course, as we got to know the people here, we discovered a few things. First of all, while sand boats can seem pretty funny, they are not funny for the people who own them, or for the friends of the people who own them.

Second, of course, is that there is a learning curve. The sand boat we saw our second year here was owned by my (now) friend Renato, who lives in Palermo, and now he comes down about twice a month to get away from the stress of his working life. As you can see above, he has been more careful with his little sail boat, and he keeps his other 'replacement' boat safely in the supervised port in Sciacca.

Unfortunately, that did not stop my friend Angelo from anchoring his boat in the bay, and leaving it to the whims of heavy wind and surf for a little too long. Luckily, it was his 'old boat', and his newer better boat is safely stored on a trailer behind his apartment here.