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SUPERSTITIONS

2105 Views 10 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  wrasseman
Howdy Yakkers

Does anybody have a superstition that envolves fishing from their Yak. When I was a deck hand on the Sandra-k years ago, out of Wollongong Harbour. Our Captain, Karl would not allow bananas on the boat. My only superstition is,

I have to have my Aussie flag out the back of my Yak flyin proudly.

:D fishing Russ
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Hi all.

I would never have thought much about bananas on boats before but I must admit I am not so sure now.

The last four trips out on my stinkboat..tinnie..powered watercraft...coke can..etc :lol: I had a number of things go wrong. In each case my passengers had smuggled bananas onboard in there lunchboxes. Even when I realised they had bananas in my boat I could not bring myself to tell them to ditch the things. (They would of thought I was a Goose.)

These are a few things that happened.

Wacked my nose on the bowsprit when launching, blood everywhere.
Brother went flying when pedestal seat post broke.
Left ramp when noticed fuel guage was showing empty but was sure it had half a tank in it back at the house. Turned around, took petrol can up to servo and put 25 litres in boat. Still no change in the guage reading but still went out. ( later realised it was a faulty sender unit)
On the same trip had terrible noise from the rams when I power trimmed up.
Same trip drove boat up on trailer with a mate guiding me on. He says, "your right", but it didn't feel right to me. Checked under boat to see a 15 cm gauge in the hull where it had slipped off the skids.
Got distracted by some kids in the boat and took off with a burley bucket dangling 10 metres in the water, it went under the boat and hit the prop.
Told my mates 7 year old not to fish off the pod at the back in case he falls in, he ignores me and guess what, in he goes.( 80 feet of water, 20 knot wind, his fishing line lost and one upset kid.)

The boat was a new bowrider. (under 15 hours)

I mean it must have been the bananas fault, right! :shock: .......It couldnt have been mine :?: :D
Hey, who wants to come on a fishing trip with me next week? :wink:
ps) Leave your bananas at home please.
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theres a message in the above post knot too fast...

sell the boat and take your yak out instead! :wink:

Russ. I would have thought that your new superstition would be "Never trust a TOYBOY"??

Me - no superstitions apart from "this craft should remain right side up at all times"
Davey G said:
theres a message in the above post knot too fast...

sell the boat and take your yak out instead! :wink:

Already have Davey G :D
When I learnt to scuba dive the dive master sheepishly requested we eat the banana we had with us before we got on board :)
HiRAEdd said:
When I learnt to scuba dive the dive master sheepishly requested we eat the banana we had with us before we got on board :)
Interesting Gavin but at what stage of digestion is the banana still a threat. :D
A few of the people on my boat still had bananas in their gut. :D
No bananas will ever enter my yak or stink boat.
We sailing the Whitsundays a few years ago and a chick we were with brought bananas on the boat.
Got hit by a cyclone 2 days later - spent a day in port waiting for it to pass.
My father in law got stung by one of those bad mongrel Irigangi jelly fish that nearly kill you - spent a day in hospital.
Plane was delayed 6 hours on the way home - had to change an engine.
The moral to the story - NO BANANAS ON MY BOAT EVER AGAIN !!
To analyse superstitions is pointless because the people that believe are not be swayed by logic, and aren't necessarilly dills.

Besides bananas.....Whistling brings up the wind.....Leaving harbour throw your small change in for the fish gods.....Return the first fish as an offering to the same gods.

And I've created another to good effect...Never go fishing with an esky, devoid of beer....... no one has ever argued with this superstition in over 40 years :wink:
Until recently (due to pricing pressure) I always have bananas on the yak. They are a great source of energy. I still seem to catch just as many fish as those with me.

Hear are a few theories I have read on other sites

George Bush's dad was such a poor fisherman. It mentioned that during his highly publized yearly fishing trips he would hardly turn a reel. They enlisted the help of scientists and after the blood tests came back from the lab he was found to have high levels of a pheromone called L-Serene. This pheromone is known to put the fish off their tucker and the large concentration of it in his system was attributed to his fondness for bananas

In the old days they banned bananas as mixed cargo, therefore they had to transport them separately and the only ship owners that would do this due to their poor value was in old dilapidated tubs that were not really seaworthy and many would be lost at sea. So I suppose the belief is not justified in our modern boats.

Back when iron men sailed wooden ships, many a vessel put into tropical locales for reprovisioning, and among the foodstuffs taken on were copious amounts of bananas. In these were all sorts of bugs, spiders, and snakes which, once aboard, often lived just as happily among the victuals, bunks and bodies of the crew, and even called many a captains cabin home. Soon fevers and sores spread throughout the ship’s company and eventually to ports of call, including home. When the irate masters finally figured out the source of the scourges, word spread lickety-split that any form of bananas was prohibited aboard ship. To cement the edict, they deemed the fruit bad luck.

In the 17th century scurvy was a problem. Limes and lemons could be brought on ships to help prevent the scurvy. Bananas omit a gas that causes other fruits to ripen quicker. If the limes and lemons over ripened too early on the long voyage, sailor’s lives were at risk.

Boats loaded with bananas tended to be overloaded in the early days. On a rough day, the bananas could shift in the hold and cause the ship to capsize.
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I can't take a net or a knife with me or I won't even look like getting anything. Leave them at home and be unprepared and I do much better.
Cheers
Col.
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