Of Course I Didn’t Take Photos While Racing

We decided that the best way to spend the morning would be by bicycling along the shore. This would allow us to make a brief stop at the dive shop (the battery in my new dive computer died *grumble grumble*), and from there we could keep going and see some of the area.

Upon waking, we were greeted by morning birds and the anchor lights topping the masts of the boats moored in the bay outside our hotel.

After a breakfast of corn fritters (pancakes) with arugula, avocado, tomato, bacon, and egg, topped with avocado oil, we headed to town where they rented us the bikes. All rentals included helmets, each of which inflicted pain in its own unique way, mostly with unfortunately placed pieces of velcro.

First stop, the dive shop, run by former steelworker from Rochester. He was ready to replace the battery, but didn’t have the replacement. And so we were sent on an errand, up hills and circling the coast, to the chemist. About 5 minutes into this 15 minute ride, my chain came off. I don’t think I’ve ever had a chain come off of a bike before. So we, of course, had to stop and fix it. There are worse places to have to fix a bike.

Eventually the bike was fixed and we found our way to the chemist, where the woman working the counter was a bit put off by the gobs of grease on my hands. Still, they had the battery, and I was on my way back to the dive shop where the replacement was made with ease.

 

The bikes were returned, and this entire saga had consumed most of the morning. The mid part of the day was spent with lunch and shopping, since we had plans for later in the afternoon.

 

At 315 we met Jo from Merit Racing, where we joined the crew of a 60 foot around-the-world yacht for a twilight race. We tendered out to the boat where we received our assignments. There weren’t that many of us, so we had actual jobs, with the exceptions of two older women who served as live moveable ballast. 

I and a 16 year old worked the grinders, which are a geard-down winch system used to tighten the sails. It was a lot of work. See that picture? Yeah – that wasn’t me, but it was what I was doing. It kinda sucks, to be honest.

After a bit of a late start in which we almost ran into the committee boat, we were going. It was a triangular course, around which we went three times. 

At the end of the race we hadn’t won, but also hadn’t come in last, so Michael, the owner, seemed thrilled. We sailed back in as the sun settled down behind the hills to the west. It had been an euphoric afternoon, and we were spent for the day.