The last few weeks have been pretty busy. Finally have a moment to sit down and bang out a few words…
Thanksgiving weekend I joined up with my friend Marty aboard his Kinney Pipe Dream 36 Ruffian for a weekend of racing out of Coral Bay on St. John. Great time! Light winds, though, but we still managed to place second in our class. About 50 boats racing there, including a very healthy classic and gaffer class.
The next weekend we raced in the WEYC Gustav Wilmerding Regatta here out of West End. Compared to the great gathering we’d attended the weekend before, the racing ranks were awful thin. We won our class that time, in winds that were just the other side of the sweet spot, 35-40kts! Great galloping sail is screaming sunshine and windblown waves.
A little more recreational sailing rounded out the last few weeks. I’m feeling really behind in my homework schedule now! Last weekend I managed to get in a needed day of shopping at the various chandlers, and a whole day of fiddling with the new boomkin/windvane bracket.
Hey! What’s that over there?
…words to the effect of praise or wonder at my “adventuresome lifestyle”. i tried to tell her about what i felt i’ve given up for “all this”. i had a hard time explaining it. Well, of course, ’cause look at what i do have. Still, i most days have this feeling in the back of my mind (or the bottom of my heart) that i live the way i do because i’m incapable of anything else.
Finished this one up awhile ago, but thought it deserved further mention. The book is Herman Wouk’s “Don’t Stop The Carnival“. Set on the ficticious Caribbean island of Amerigo, but closely modelled on the St. Thomas of the early 60’s, this book hilariously deals with the somtimes manic life of the Virgin Islands. Even dated, the book abounds with details that still ring true today, and ought to be required reading for anyone looking at any sort of serious involvement with the VI. i’m now fairly certain that everyone i know here has read it at least once. Jimmy Buffet even adapted it and made it into a musical. Go figger.
i was bound and determined to find another pair of my beloved Emu shoes on this last trip. No deal… With just a couple hours of “malling” in Annapolis between boat and plane, i had to be flexible. Luckily enough, i found something i like (in clothing, that’s a near-miracle) in one of the first stores i went into, a outdoor gear place. Keen shoes. Or are they sandals? Well, at any rate, they fulfill the basic essential requirements: closed-toes (no chopped or stubbed toes in the shop or on deck), razor-cut soles (for traction on wet rocks/decks), slip-on (for the frequent removal required by working below on boats), and open enough for sockless wear. An oh yes, wide enough for my doublewides. i got myself a pair of the snappy “Newport” model.
i bought them to be boatyard shoes, but Val thought they looked too good for rough use, so she picked up a pair of Crocs for me at West Marine in Fajardo. Not so sure how they’ll stand up, but so cheap (less than $30, ’bout the same as my flipflops). Speaking of which, i finally had to replace my beloved 2nd- (or is that 3rd-?) hand Locals flipflops with some ubiquitous Reef units. What can i say? can’t live in the islands without slippers… in an article on credit abuse in some magazine i saw, there was this spoof on the Mastercard ads: “Sandals: $2; Hawaiian Vacation to purchase sandals: $3500”. The model in the picture was wearing bright pink Locals.
With all this, i’m up to FOUR pairs of shoes! Ack! Then again, perhaps with a few more shoe choices, they might last a little longer for me…
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