No one ever said picking up a sailor was rocket science, but
there are ways to make seduction even easier.
My friends and I crash the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron (376
Purcell’s Cove Road) at 21:00 hours. The club is members and guests
only, but fortunately no one asks for our credentials.
Common themes emerge after speaking to sailors. Some have just
finished a yachting race from Boston to Halifax. Others are locals.
An interest in sailing is a turn-on, if not a requirement. Bone up
on the lingo by consulting an online nautical dictionary before heading
out. Then make double entendres using words such as “sheets,” denoting
ropes in sailor-speak, “sprit,” a phallic-shaped object on the bow, and
“rail-meat,” a body onboard for extra weight.
The key to a sailor’s heart also lies in a bottle of Gosling’s.
I meet Leif Fixen, a tall blonde South Dakota boy who’s just jumped
off The Solista, and he sweetly suggests I buy him a dark-and-stormy to
drink.
Flattery works too. Fixen advises stroking men’s arms and
exclaiming, “What big forearms you have!”
Augustin Ferrario, an Argentinean sailor, prefers romantic
seduction. He suggests asking sailors to take you to an island “in full
moonlight.”
Erin Norwood, who’s sailed in Halifax Harbour her whole life,
advocates asking female sailors for sailing lessons. Her friend Emily
enjoys skill swaps, such as trading surfing classes for sailing
classes. It also helps if you have “Sperry dock shoes, salty hair and a
sunglasses tan.”
The biggest turnoff is definitely motion sickness. If you toss your
cookies at sea, take a Gravol and some Red Bull to counteract the
drowsiness before attempting to attract a sailor.
One sailor says seduction is as easy as strutting along a dock in
sexy beach garb. You’ll be rail-meat before you know it. —Lizzy
Hill
This article appears in Jul 16-22, 2009.