We baby boomers version of the "old salt", sort of a cross between Thurston Howell and Joe Cocker.

We were docking and we're usually a little sloppy. He helped with a line and said, "You handle your boat well(that put me on my guard), through his thick beard in the full shadow of his magnum duck brimmed sailing cap, he continued, "I only have one criticism,..."

Wtf, I wondered, had I unknowingly entered a docking contest or something? Was my cleat wrap backwards, or were we losing style points?

He points at our bow cleat where the loop was loosely on one horn(that's a problem with a 12" loop and a 14" cleat). He grimaced at it.

I noticed a younger guy joined him aboard his beautiful Bud McIntosh sailing dory behind us(he inferred he was watching us in case we got too close docking). That poor younger guy was made to listen to a half hour dissertation of what life on the old briney was really about(laced with instruction on how to look good). I never saw a guy leaving to go sailing with so much loathing on his face for deciding to go sailing with this phoney.

There's some real characters around the water, and then there's a bunch that work at being one of them, like this guy.