On Board With: Capt. Clark
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Capt. Kelly Gordon, an expert Master 500 Ton GT captain, took in a rescue named Clark. Learn what it's like to be a boat dog.
A little over a year ago, Capt. Kelly Gordon, an expert Master 500 Ton GT yacht captain and contributor to Boating, took in a rescue dog from Miami, Florida, named Clark. Soon she started bringing him aboard her charter trips, where he earned the nickname “Capt. Clark.” We caught up with Capt. Clark to learn what it’s like to be a full-time boat dog.
How long have you been going on trips with Capt. Gordon?
It has been one year, one month, and five days in human time, but who’s counting? Me, I’m counting, because it’s much better than the dumpster in Miami where I started. Rags to riches, that’s me. And now I have multiple boats to ride on and know them all very well— especially where the galley is!
What’s the best part about being adopted by a charter captain?
The food! The captain can’t cook, but she sure does hire good chefs. All the crew were busy the other day and freshly cooked fish was left on the stove. I’m really smart. I waited until they were all gone helping the boat next door and I counter surfed. It doesn’t take much—I’m tall. I ate all the fish. It was so good! And the stews, they change my bedding twice a week. Sure, it’s really the captain’s bed—so she thinks. I just let her share it with me. The deck crew play and play with me. The engineers, well the chief engineer is my dad, so he fixes anything I break and is always improvising things to make the boat safer for me! It really is all about the food, but having my own personal care-taking team is really nice too!
Does she ever let you take the helm?
Last night was the first time in my whole life that she finally let me! Something about the anchor dragging and needing to move. She mentioned better holding in the sandy bottom and I thought that meant going to the beach to dig in the sand. Spoiler alert—it didn’t. But what was really cool about my first maneuver was that I stretched out across all three captain’s chairs and watched her do all the work. I hope I get to supervise her more at the helm.
Comments