|
6 February 2001
Yesterday I didn't know that today is a Sunday. The books will have to wait
until tomorrow then. I was up early, since we were to go sailing at 5.30 a.m.
And it was great. Of cause he has great experience handling his boat, and at the
same time he is watching his trolling line(s), lines you drag behind the boat
with "octopuses". We fished for four hours and caught two large (yellowfin?)
tunas and three barracudas.
Shortly after returning to port, Tom and Jen came over to ask if I wanted to
join them on a sailing trip. They had arranged to meet Kent, a Swedish sailor,
who used to be/is a boat builder and trimming specialist. He came down here
seven months ago and says that he and his wife will soon be moving on.
Keld(Kent) went to check the rigging on the boat Anni B, and has promised to
come over one of the next days to see, if it would be possible to move my
spreaders.
The boat is a Baltic 51 ft., the largest boat I have been sailing with so far.
And damn the boat can sail. It's both stable and fast. At genoa we were doing 8
knots and spent a wonderful couple of hours with a few tea breaks. After all Tom
and Jen are British.
It is an American boat and Tom is the boat's skipper. The owner, who is a heart
and lung surgeon, will arrive here on Friday. I find it to be a paradox that a
guy who's that "rich" and can afford such a boat, is at home working, while he's
paying a "poor" guy, in this case Tom, to sit here and enjoy life, go for a sail
from time to time aboard a wonderful boat, on an enormous budget.
Right in front of Trojka is another American boat. It has been to the reef and
has gotten most of its bow ripped open, which now has been temporarily repaired.
The skipper is called Steve. He is 74 years old and a single sailor. He had been
sailing too close to the reef and was caught by the current. He tells that this
is his last trip and his wish is to sail the boat back to Texas. I told him that
he could get Trojka in exchange for his. Then he would be able to send Trojka
back home as parcel post.
I can't really figure out if he wants me to help him sail it home. If he asks,
and is willing to pay for a return flight and marina/supervision for Trojka in
the meantime, I'll probably say yes. He's really a delightful fellow, who has
been to a lot of places. We match each other well and spend quite some time
together. I would then have to look at my schedule afterwards. There's always
the possibility of sailing great distances, if I feel that I need to make up for
lost time.
Chris and Dora are also here, as the neighbours of Anni B. The other night, Dora
pulled me out of bed with a hefty buzz on, this being hers. So I went to their
boat for a goodnight drink. At this point, Chris had already passed out, so she
needed help emptying the bottle. Chris is German and Dora is Polish. She's the
kind of person who - if the bottle has been opened, has to empty it before going
to bed. She kept talking about how cute my boat is and how teeny-weeny all the
equipment is, and how cute it looks........ I had some difficulties ensuring
that she didn't open up another bottle, when the first one was finally gone. Ye
gods she was hung over the next day, but did come over to "apologize" - She's
sweet, and then breakfast was in the bag.
Tomorrow Tom and I are going to the Venezuelan embassy to get visa to go there.
And I have gotten the address for a carpenter, so I ought to get those pieces of
wood tomorrow. |