The Grand Splashional Old Jack's Boat

Ha...oh!

And a good day to you.

# This is the place to be

# For Salty Dog and me.

# Down by the harbour we'll be there

# Round every corner there's something to share

# Give us a cheer, our friends are here

# Just Salty Dog and me... #

Ha-ha! Come on, Salty!

# This is the place to meet

# Down at the end of the street

# Seagulls flying up in the blue

# There's always a cup of tea waiting for you

# Out in the sun, having some fun

# Just Salty Dog and me

# Haul away, haul away

# Sing a song of the sea

# Hoist the sail I'll tell you a tale

# Of Salty Dog and me.

# This is the place to go

# And these are the people we know

# The village is busy with things to see

# And there's the Rainbow down by the quay

# There's stories to tell join us as well

# Just Salty Dog and me. #

MOBILE RINGS

Oh! Good morning, Jack and Salty!

Miss Bowline-Hitch! How are you this morning?

Busy-busy!

What have you got there?

Delivering leaflets for the village raffle - here.

Oh, thank you - what's this number seven at the bottom?

That's your special number.

-Whoever gets the winning number gets a big bunch of flowers.

-Very nice.

Can we help? We could drop a leaflet in at The Mermaid?

I think it'll be quicker if I do it, Jack.

I don't know - I mean, Salty and I, we like a challenge.

So we'll race you there.

Very well, but let me warn you, you'll lose.

-I'm very fast on my bike.

-Oh, yeah.

Busy-busy!

There she goes, yeah - with the speed of light!

I know what you're thinking, Salty - she's bound to beat us.

But just wait and see.

Number seven - that could be lucky. Lucky seven, Salty.

I'm so far ahead, I've still got time to deliver a couple more leaflets.

Busy-busy!

Don't worry, Salty -

I know she's way ahead, but you just wait and see.

PHONE RINGS

Oh...

Yes?

Miss Bowline-Hitch speaking, yes.

Yes. Yes.

Oh...yes?

What did I tell you, Salty?

I knew she'd get delayed.

Come on.

Yes - thank you very much. I'll let you know.

Must go - busy, busy!

MISS BOWLINE-HITCH SIGHS

Arrived at last. I'll just wait here for Jack and Salty.

JACK WHISTLES

Over here!

Jack and Salty! How did you do it?

If there's one thing we can rely on, it's you being "busy-busy".

I knew you'd get a couple of phone calls on the way.

Well, really! I thought I'd be the winner.

How disappointing.

Now we've had our cup of tea and Salty's had her biscuit,

I think it's about time we got back to the Rainbow.

-No hard feelings?

-None at all!

-CHUCKLING:

-Bye-bye!

Come on, Salty.

There she is - the Rainbow.

What have you got for us today, me dear?

Hey-hey! Come on, Salty.

JACK HUMS A TUNE

Here we are.

That's it - you settle yourself down there, girl. Good girl.

Well, that race we had with Miss Bowline-Hitch

just shows, doesn't it?

Fastest isn't always the best.

Here, do you remember that underwater race we once saw?

That was to see who was the fastest, wasn't it?

Oh, this will whiffle your whiskers, girl.

Once upon a twinkly time,

the Rainbow set off from Staithes, waved goodbye to Whitby

and disappeared over the horizon.

# Just Salty Dog and me

# Upon the briny sea

# The sun is up, the weather's fair

# Salty is sniffing the ocean air

# We're not in a hurry so no need to worry

# Just Salty Dog and me. #

JACK LAUGHS

Then suddenly, the Rainbow stopped.

Oh!

Salty looked over the stern - that's the back -

and she pointed to some seaweed wrapped around our rudder.

Ha!

We were stuck.

"We must be tangled up in the Seaweed Forest",

I said to Salty.

So we headed underwater to do some untangling.

Well, down below, Salty spotted a crowd gathering on the sea bed.

Mrs Cod was there, organising everyone.

"Have you marked the start line, Harold?" she said.

"Yes, dear", said Mr Cod.

Then she spotted Salty and me.

"Jack, you're just in time." "For what?" I asked.

"The Grand Splashinol. We do it every year.

"It's when someone tries to beat Speedy in a race."

"But Speedy is the fastest fish in the sea!" I said.

"Exactly", Mrs Cod replied. "No-one's ever beaten him."

And with that, she announced,

"Competitors for the Grand Splashinol,

"take your places!"

And immediately, there was a great "whoosh!"

as Speedy sped up to the start line.

But who was going to race him?

"Come on!" Speedy said.

All the fish shook their heads -

they'd all tried before and they lost.

So, in a flurry of fins, all the fish whizzed away,

leaving a teeny tiny seahorse called Sam,

wide-eyed and on his own.

"You'll do", Speedy laughed. "This is going to be easy!"

And with that, a determined look came onto Sam's face - hmm -

and he flapped up to the start line next to Speedy.

"You go for it, Sam!" I said.

"You don't have to be big to do big things."

Sam gulped.

I gave out the race numbers. Sam's was a bit big

and when I pinned it on, he started to sink.

"I'll wear it for you", Salty woofed.

And then Mrs Cod gave me the signal and I trumpeted,

"On your marks, get set, go!"

"See you at the finish line", Speedy smirked to Sam,

"if you make it that far - ha-ha!"

And he sped off, faster than a firework.

Sam flapped his fins, with Salty trotting along beside him,

but they were hardly past the start

before Speedy was just a speck in the distance.

"Oh, bother!" said Sam.

Up ahead, Speedy sped past an arrow that was pointing the way.

He zipped past it so fast, he sent the arrow whizzing round

and it ended up pointing the wrong way.

"Whoops!" said Speedy, chuckling to himself.

A little while later, Sam flapped along with Salty.

"Follow the arrow", Salty woofed and off they went...the wrong way.

Well, it turned out that Salty and Sam

had actually followed the arrow down a shortcut

and they ended up in front of Speedy.

"Go, Sam!" cheered Coral Reef, as Sam flapped past.

And soon, Speedy arrived.

"Go, Speedy!" Coral cheered.

Speedy thought he was far ahead, so he stopped for a chat.

"This'll be the third time I've won the Grand Splashinol",

he bragged.

"Really?" Coral marvelled.

She asked Speedy if he had time for a photo.

"Of course! Plenty of time."

So Speedy posed for loads of photos.

Dah-dee! Ta-dah!

Against the volcano, beside the submarine,

balancing on his tail, grinning a toothy grin.

Soon, Coral suggested that perhaps Speedy should get going

if he wanted to catch up with Sam.

"Catch up?" laughed Speedy. "Sam and Salty are way behind!"

"Actually, they passed by quite a while ago", Coral said.

"What?!" said Speedy.

And then he thought,

"I'll take the shortcut through the Seaweed Forest.

"That'll beat 'em!"

Well, up ahead, Sam was getting tired.

It was a long way for a little seahorse.

"You don't have to be big to do big things", Salty woofed.

And Sam swam on and on and on.

Meanwhile, Speedy sped through the Seaweed Forest

and up ahead, he could see Sam, nearly at the finish line.

Speedy went faster, faster and faster.

Then he stopped.

A strand of seaweed had tangled round Speedy's tail.

"Ah! Ooh!"

He was stuck.

He tried to pull himself free, but the seaweed wouldn't move.

Something was making it really heavy.

It was the Rainbow's rudder -

Speedy and the Rainbow were tangled on the same strand of seaweed.

"Rrrggghhh! Ooh!"

Speedy pulled and edged slowly forwards.

At the finish line, we could see Sam and Salty coming.

Sam was huffing and puffing and flapping up to the finish.

"Come on", we all cheered. "You can do it!"

Speedy watched what was happening and put everything he had

into one final tug on the seaweed.

Ping! "Oh!"

And Speedy pinged off towards the finish line

and the seaweed untangled from the Rainbow's rudder.

Speedy nearly caught up with Sam, but with a flap and a puff

and a stretched-out nose...

..Sam crossed the line first.

Ha! "Sam is the winner", I announced,

and the crowd went wild.

"You don't need to be big to do big things", I said to Sam,

as everyone patted him on the back and Coral Reef took his photo.

And Speedy?

Well, being beaten by a slow little seahorse

made him a much less boastful fish.

He even said "Well done" to Sam for beating him.

So, now the Rainbow was free, it was time to go.

We did some goodbye-ing and headed back on board

and set our course for Staithes and home.

Did you like that story, Salty? All true, of course.

Mind you, my stories always are.

Come on, girl.

Come on, Salty - time for the raffle.

We'd better get over to The Mermaid.

Come on.

Jack, Salty, you're just in time for the raffle.

Yes - you're not upset about losing our little race earlier, are you?

Not at all - I'm a good loser.

Ladies and gentlemen, the winning number is...

Seven, let it be seven!

..number 12!

-Oh.

-Ah...!

Does anyone have the winning number?

Just a minute - Miss Bowline-Hitch, what was your number?

Em...

Oh...number 12.

Ah! You are a winner after all, Miss Bowline-Hitch!

-I am!

-Yes, you are.

-Congratulations!

-Oh, thank you!

-Yeah!

-Hooray!

Now we can celebrate with a cup of The Mermaid Cafe's finest tea.

Yeah, and a couple of cakes, eh?