Prolific and popular Isle of Man cachers Kermit, Tina and Jemima are also keen sailors. Indeed, their caching name, Cagoule’s Crew, is taken from the name of their boat, and not from their clothing when caching in wet weather. Such is Kermit’s love of his boat that he is often referred to as “The skipper” even when out caching and not, as some have mis-heard, “The kipper”, although after the following tale the latter might be deemed appropriate.
So it was no surprise when, one fine and sunny morning, they decided to take their impressive RIB across to Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland, a trip they had made many times before.
But as their start point of the harbour in Port St. Mary disappeared behind them, a thick fog descended and they were unable to see where they were going. Strangely, the boat’s navigation instruments stopped working at the exact same time, including the radio, compass and even their trusty GPS receiver. Was this some weird Manx version of the Bermuda Triangle or Manannan McLir having a bit of fun with his cloak?
“No problem”, said Kermit, “I’ve brought along a chart which should help. It’s not one I’ve used before, but if I navigate using these lines on the chart, I’m sure we’ll end up in the right place”.
After a few hours afloat (it seems their watches had stopped along with all the other devices) and after following a strange route which included a few zig-zags, the fog lifted and they were surprisingly close to land.
“Dad”, said Jemima, “That’s not Ireland over there, that’s Peel Castle!”
“Well that’s a surprise and quite a major one”, said Tina, “Let me see that chart.”
After looking at the chart for a few minutes, she then said “It looks like you’ve dropped a clanger, Kermit. This chart would never have guided us to Ireland. But it might help us find a nearby geocache.”
Kermit's Chart.
