Saturday 17 January 2015

Blowing with the wind

It was a bit blowy yesterday, I thought discretion would reign and the rum race would be called off. Down to the sheds I wandered feeling grumpy and groany. Grumpy after a less than satisfying week at work, very bored with the whole work thing and realising why for the first time, that dawning of  an epiphany, that 'ah ha' moment. More on that later as I unpack the so what of it all.

I didn't count on there being two Petes at the shed, all gung-ho and ready to go. They of course managed to convince me, wasn't that hard really grumpy as I was I needed water time. The lovely Aaron, a young sailing friend from Cayman, said it wouldn't take me long to get a crew space if I went to the Port Nic club. True. He also said that 25 gusting 35 wouldn't be so daunting after a while. For non sailors, that's knots and what's commonly known as blowing a hooley.

Boat breaking winds. For the sturdy Davidson 28 that is Tortimony it's child's play. Out we went, I was still unconvinced. We reefed the main and off we flew, what fun it was! The boat hummed along taking the gusts in its stride. This mainsail trimmer had work to do. Plenty of it as we careened down the harbour. Three up all that was need for the work, an extra for ballast would have been good.

What a gift sailing has been, thanks Jo and the crew in the Caymans. It's most certainly different here although the social aspects are the same, without those pesky mozzies. Last evening Pete excelled himself. BBQ out in the still gusting wind cooking some yummy fish. We won the rum, dark and stormies were the drink of the evening. So good.

Stories were shared. Pete 2 had some amazing ones. Seems he's been places no one much goes diving and the like, like Antarctica! He even made this hot house flower want to go there too. Just for a short time to take photos, well rugged up if course. He is quite a photographer. Check out his blog, he does such interesting work for NIWA. He knows a bit about weather.

So the day turned into the wee small hours with rum and adventures shared looking out over the gorgeous harbour I've come to love. My mood much improved, thankfully. Today there's not much planned, maybe some helping with the boat bits and then an evening out practicing the dance moves Diana and I learnt at Ceroc. Have I said I've started going to Ceroc, dance lessons and lots of fun practice with more experienced others. Just the right way to learn and so much fun as well.

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