Everyone has trouble talking on the VHF radio to start with. You have to push a button on the microphone and say your thing, not knowing who’s hearing you, or just how you sound. And so it was with Suzana before we started cruising, indeed even after that and before the Ha-ha.
But during the course of the Ha-ha, she blossomed as a radio operator, not only becoming casual about using the radio, but downright witty and generally helpful to others in the fleet. So much so that she got the chattiest VHF operator award, by popular vote.
She say that it’s not that she talked more than others, but that her accent made people remember her more than others. I say it’s not because she talked more, but because she had more style than the others. And she wasn’t talking just to chat, as the award’s name suggests, but nearly always to spread useful information or help someone with a problem or needing to connect with someone else in the fleet.
Anyway, I’m really proud of her expanded and expanding prowess as a radio operator.
