Chapter 94: Boating

Alex raised an eyebrow. "You do boat racing?""Yeah," Lucas replied. "Last time I was here, I raced a keelboat. Noah had me on the mainsheet, and when we had the spinnaker up, he and Benyo took the sheet and brace, and I was steering. It was so much fun."

"Who are Noah and Benyo?" I asked.

"My friends, of course!" Lucas looked at me like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

He then got really animated, his eyes lighting up. "Anyway, downwind, I could feel the power of the boat moving through the water. When I pushed the tiller across or pulled it towards me, I could hear the water rushing around it... and the force of the water moving around the tiller was really strong. It was incredible."

"Wow. I feel jealous..." Charlotte said, her eyes wide with admiration.

"Then just try it," Lucas replied matter-of-factly.

I looked over at him and thought about something. "How much does a racing boat cost?" I asked.

"Oh, quite expensive." Lucas shrugged a bit wistfully. "I'm just renting them for a day or two right now. I was thinking I could get one after I finish studying and get a job. Every so often, I get that classified publication, 'Boating Mag', and look through it and... je... drool!"

Alex chuckled. "We don't need to know your fetishes, Lucas."

We laughed at that. I guess we were drunk enough.

"If I really wanted to get a racing boat, what should I get?" I asked.

Lucas looked at me a bit more seriously. "It depends. Would you want something like a dinghy or one with a cabin? It really depends on what you would really like to do. If you just want to race, then you could go for an open keelboat, like an Etchells, or a Soling, or even an old Star Class."

He continued, "But if you wanted to stay on it overnight, you would want something with a cabin and bunks, like a J32, or similar."

"That would be so cool!" Charlotte said, shooting glances at me. "Would something like that be expensive?"

"Depends on the condition of the boat, what the sails are like, electrics, motor and so on. I've seen some open keelboats as low as four grand, but they looked like they were just about ready to sink.

You could get something reasonable for maybe eight or ten thousand; you would probably need to do some work on something like that, get some new sails, replace the running rigging, stuff like that," he said and then paused. "Now as for a cabin..."

"Fifty grand," I said, finishing his thought.

"Yeah, yeah. Something around that. At that point, you might as well be buying a yacht."

"I mean," I said, thinking it over, "I've always wanted to learn how to boat race. I might as well start with an Etchells keelboat. I might hook up with you sometime, Lucas."

Lucas chuckled. "Aren't you doing an accelerated major? There's no way you have time for this shit."

I grinned. "I'll make time. It will be a good break from studying."

We talked and talked, flowing from one topic to another.

As the night went on, more and more cans of beer disappeared from the cooler.

Did I drink that much...

At some point, we noticed Alex was unusually quiet.

We turned to see him lying flat, his hair now full of sand.

He was out cold with a goofy grin on his face.

"Great..." Charlotte said as she leaned onto my shoulder, very tipsy herself.

"Don't worry, this is only natural," Lucas said cheerfully. "This happens all the time to my surfing friends. We build a fire on the beach and people get drunk and pass out. You wouldn't believe how many guys I've helped carry to a car."

"Alright... surely the two of us can get him to the car," I said, glancing at Alex sprawled out on the sand.

"Can't you do it alone?" Charlotte grinned and ran her fingers from my forearm, sliding up under the sleeve of my shirt, and gave my biceps a queeze. "You've been building some muscles."

I chuckled at the compliment. "Okay, let's go, Charlie."

She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and hopped off.

I turned to Mia and Sam, who had been chatting by the fire. "Hey, Mia, Sam," I said, "do you want to stay here a bit longer or should we head to a hotel?" seaʀᴄh thё nôvelFire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Mia looked around, the firelight reflecting in her eyes. "It's been fun, but I think it's enough for tonight."

Sam nodded. "Let's pack up."

We moved Alex over to Lucas's car, making sure he was settled in comfortably. Once he was in, we quickly packed up all our gear and cleaned up the area.

As we got to the hotel and walked up to the reception, the friendly receptionist greeted us with a smile.

I turned to Charlotte. "Do you want a separate room?"

Charlotte looked at me as if I'd asked something completely unnecessary. "Double is fine... No need for separate rooms tonight," she said with a sweet smile.

I turned back to the receptionist. "We'll take a double room, then."

The receptionist gave me a knowing smile and handed us the key.

We went upstairs and entered a very cozy room with a king-size bed and a large TV mounted on the wall opposite the bed.

Charlotte dropped her bag on the floor and began unpacking a few things. Meanwhile, I headed over to the TV and turned it on. I started switching between channels, looking for something to watch.

I finally found... something.

When I turned the sound from the TV, it didn't sound like a horror film, and it definitely wasn't Top Gear, but it did set the tone for the next few hours.

Charlotte turned around as soon as she heard it, smiling. "I see that you found something good," she said, half-jokingly. "Yea... that girl... she's really pretty, but I've got much nicer boobs."

At this Charlotte lifted up her top and removed bra in a single swift move.

Indeed, her boobs were nicer.