PASSAGES Spider Superstitions

Boaters are a superstitious bunch. Only professional athletes, with their neverwashed socks and bizarre pregame routines might surpass the boating crew in their devotion to quirky rituals and strange beliefs.

There are the classic superstitions like the ones laid out by Desiree Miller on page 42. Many readers will likely be familiar with these. Maybe you are even adamant that nobody brings a banana aboard? As odd as some of these superstitions seem, for the most part, they have their foundations in reality, as Desiree Miller explains in her article.

On top of these classic superstitions, many boaters have their own personal rituals. There’s one boating superstition that I have always lived by—passed on to me by my dad. Namely, spiders are good luck on a boat. The reasoning being that a spider and its web are signs of a dry deck—no web would survive a capsize. Now don’t misunderstand me, I don’t encourage these eight-legged creatures to make their homes above our bed or in the galley, but a wellformed web hanging at the stern rail or pulpit is a welcome sight aboard—at least to me.

Not so for my first boating partner. She would have preferred that no spiders set up shop on our boat and it was hard for me to fault her for that. Spiders that start off outside do have a habit of finding their way into the cabin. Nevertheless, a live and let live policy has always worked for me.

A few years ago, we were returning from an overnight stay at Silva Bay. It was a beautiful, early spring day with a clear sky and a nice, light breeze for sailing. Before we departed the marina, my then partner spotted a dewcovered web glistening in the morning sun. Despite my protests, she went forward and knocked the poor creature off the boat and presumably onto the dock (or even worse, into the sea).

I was rattled. With a Strait of Georgia crossing ahead of us I was concerned that we had upset the natural order of things—but there was nothing to be done so I fired up the engine and we started on our way.

Halfway across the strait, the wind and waves had picked up. We battered our way through heavy seas, the waves crashing over the bow and sending spray over us as we sought shelter in the cockpit. “I knew we should have left that spider alone,” I thought.

We made it back to the marina in Vancouver in one piece, but I was convinced our rough crossing would have been smoother if we’d left that spider alone.

The next day I returned to the boat to doublecheck that everything was tied up properly. As I squatted to adjust the stern line, I noticed the early stages of a web forming on the aft life ring, then a spider emerged to continue its work. I gave a knowing nod. Our next crossing would be a smooth one.

What about you? What’s your personal boating superstition? Or do you have an alternate take on one of the classics?

–Sam Burkhart

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Sam Burkhart editor@pacificyachting.com

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