Jasonboat

Jason Boat was made of wood, and had a small engine at the back. He was a busy little boat, always ferrying people across the river and carrying things from one side to the other. He even transported things to the larger boats so they could go out to sea, and when they came back Jason Boat would help take things off the larger boats and transport them safely to the harbour side.

But what Jason Boat really wanted to be was a racing yacht, so that he could show all the other boats how fast and gracious he was.


Jason Boat was cheeky. He thought no other boat in the harbour worked as hard as he did. After all, he was busy all the time. One afternoon one of the racing yachts had come into the harbour and was just taking a breather when Jason Boat whizzed past him, his little engine whooshing away.

"Woo hoo!" shouted Jason Boat as he whizzed past spraying the yacht with water.

The yacht had a terrible surprise. He decided he would get his own back on Jason Boat.


Very early the next morning Jason's skipper tried to wake him. The yacht had decided to leave the harbour extra early and needed to be towed out into the harbour mouth before the tide changed direction.

"Oh this is far too early for me" said Jason Boat. "Can't I just rest a little while longer?"

"Hurry up lazybones," shouted the yacht. "We haven't got all day."




The yacht asked Jason Boat to push him out of the harbour but to tie himself to the yacht's stern . Jason did as he was told. But as they made their way to the harbour entrance the yacht hoisted it's sails and began picking up speed. Jason's skipper fell back into Jason and was unable to untie him from the yacht.

The yacht screamed with laughter. The yacht got faster and faster and water began to lap over the sides of Jason Boat.

Jason's skipper began to bail furiously.


"For heaven's sake stop!" shouted Jason Boat.

"Stop whinging Jason," said the yacht, "You've always wanted to go fast haven't you?" The yacht laughed as he raced away into the open sea. As they passed all the smaller yachts that were moored just outside the harbour entrance they all chuckled.

Poor Jason Boat was going ever faster and more and more water was lapping up over the sides and into the boat. Much faster than the skipper was able to bail.

"Oh my lovely paintwork will be quite badly affected by all this bashing about." said Jason dismally.


Just then the yacht let go of the rope and Jason came grinding to a halt just outside the harbour, bobbing gently up and down in the swell of the waves.

"Ha ha," laughed the yacht, " Now you know what speed is really like Jason. It's not all that easy and fun is it."

Jason boat just turned round in a huff and headed back to the safety of the harbour.


That afternoon, after Jason Boat had managed to recuperate from his adventure he began to ferry people to and fro across the river, avoiding the ferries and the bulk carriers.

Just then the Harbour Master came rushing to the harbour side in a panic.

"Quickly, there's been a collision out in the channel," he shouted to Jason. "Two yachts have hit each other while racing. One of them is stranded without sails and an engine."

Jason Boat quickly sped across the harbour and dropped off his passengers and then made his way out to sea to find the stricken yacht.
"Well I hope they're grateful for this." thought Jason, "Particularly after the trick one of the yachts pulled this morning."


The sea was getting rougher and rougher, and the waves were getting higher and higher but Jason was able to ride them until he saw the yacht sat in the water violently bobbing up and down. Her crew stood on deck frantically waving.

When Jason Boat finally arrived he could see a large hole in the hull and the mast had broken in two with the large sail draped over the deck.

"Don't worry, I'll get you to safety." Jason said. Jason's skipper grabbed one end of the rope and threw it to the yacht. When they had tied the other end up Jason shouted across for everyone to hold tight.


Jason turned around and pointed towards the harbour. He revved his little engine as hard as he could and slowly began to tow the yacht back to the safety of the harbour.

But the sea was getting rougher and the yacht began to fill with water making it heavier to tow. Jason had truly never worked so hard before. Although it took a small amount of time to get to the yacht, it took much longer to get back to harbour. As they entered the safety of the harbour it began to rain heavily and the wind picked up causing the waves to get higher and higher.


Jason managed to pull the yacht to the harbour side so all the crew could get off and into the safety of the clubhouse.
"Thank you Jason" they cheered. The yacht thanked Jason too. "If it wasn't for you Jason, I could have sank to the bottom of the sea." she said.
"Glad to be of help." said Jason.

The Harbour Master came running down to see Jason and the yacht.



"Well done Jason," said the Harbour Master. "I've spoken to the crew and they have told me all about your wonderful rescue. You should be very proud of yourself."

"Thank you." said Jason.

"I'm going to give you a wonderful reward for your bravery. But now I think you need to get under cover in the small boat house and get yourself warm and dry."


The very next day Jason Boat was taken out of the water and into the dry dock. The carpenters rubbed down his hull and re-varnished him, and then fitted a mast and boom and some sails. They had turned Jason from a little wooden ferry boat into a racing sail boat.

The Harbour Master came down to see Jason with his sails and mast.

"You look marvellous Jason. From now on you can race the other boats when you are not needed in the harbour and on the river."

Jason smiled and thanked the Harbour Master

As Jason sailed out of the harbour to give his new sails a test run all the other yachts cheered.

Jason was at last a racing yacht.