Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Electric Plate Party

"Use it or lose it!"

That's what they say.

Whoever they are.



It's certainly true about Laser sailing as I discovered last week.

I went sailing on Monday in Bristol and again on Saturday from Seapowet Beach on the Sakonnet River.

Both days the wind was in the south and strong enough to stir up some nice juicy waves and chop.

Both days were a bit of a challenge to me.



It's not just that I hadn't exercised my Laser sailing muscles on the water for three months.

It's also that my boat-handling skills seemed to have deteriorated seriously during the layoff.



I was awful at working the boat upwind through the waves.

I was clumsy and incompetent in the tacks.

I managed to capsize on one of the few occasions I felt brave enough to gybe.

But I did have a blast on the reaches and runs.



Once again I was sailing on my own.

I did invite some friends to come with me.

But they all had excuses.

The most creative excuse was one person who said she was having an "electric plate party."

I have no idea what an "electric plate party" is.

Is it some American tradition that I haven't come across in the 25 years I have lived here?

Whatever it is, it's apparently more fun than Laser sailing in waves on the Sakonnet, hard as it is to believe that.



This is all I could find about electric plates on the Google….






The last one looks like a fun party, but surely that's not what my friend was suggesting?


6 comments:

PeconicPuffin said...

Awful? Clumsy? Incompetent? Sounds like a good day on the water to me! "In sailing, one must drink deep from the cup of humiliation."

bonnie said...

I googled it and the first thing I found was YOU. Proper Course - the best Electric Plate Party Blog on the planet!

Tillerman said...

Thanks Peconic Puffin. I am so pleased you understand.

LOL bonnie. I'm not surprised. I did google the phrase before writing this post and found nothing at all helpful, so it is to be expected that this post is now the only page on the Interwebs that explains exactly what an Electric Plate Party is. I own the whole electric plate party niche. Even wikipedia says less about electric plate party than this post.Perhaps I should register the domain name electricplateparty.com before it is too late?

bonnie said...

Amazingly enough, it looks like none of those professional domain squatters have snapped that up. Can't imagine why they haven't!

Tillerman said...

Yeah. I mean, electric plate parties are obviously a big deal. And the website that owns that domain could build a serious online service giving advice on how to organize electric plate parties, selling plates to use at electric plate parties, reviewing different designs of electric plates, publishing gossip and photos about celebrities behaving badly at electric plate parties, reporting on all the latest news in other media about electric plate parties, organizing conferences for electric plate party fans, organizing travel to other countries to go to electric plate parties, running competitions for the best electric plate party, publishing recipes and drink recommendations for electric plate parties, lobbying Congress to pass a law to make open carry of electric plates legal in all 50 states, hosting a network of electric plate party bloggers, raising funds to pay medical bills for people injured at electric plate parties, raising funds for young electric plate students to go to college, fighting against the deportation of undocumented electric plates, and campaigning against discrimination on the grounds of voltage, resistance or capacitance, to name just a few opportunities.

Tillerman said...

Oh dear. My friend now tells me that the electric plate party didn't actually happen. I really didn't understand her explanation. Something about not being prepared for multiple electrocutions. Perhaps it was all made up so she wouldn't have to sail with me?

I should remember this excuse and use it again in future.

Why haven't you mowed the lawn? I was getting ready for the electric plate party.

Why are there crumbs all over the floor? Must have been somebody at the electric plate party.

Why isn't the light in the bathroom working? Must have blown the fuse at the electric plate party.

See? I can use it for anything!

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