I’m so relaxed right now you might think I were drugged or something. Not so. I’m just back from 70 hours on a tallship, the 19m “Alexander Stewart”.
I couldn’t really begin to explain my state of mind right now, but I will try. You know the movie Office Space, right after they visit the hypnotherapist? Yeah. That is pretty much how I feel. No worries in the entire world. Everything is going to be cool.
The ship’s crew was really great. Them and a couple from Vancouver and Japan (James is from Vancouver, she’s from Japan but I can’t spell her name). Chris was the skipper, Travis was I guess 1st mate, and Kate was the excellent cook. James has done a fair bit of sailing and helped them out a lot.
The basic idea of the trip is that you sail out on Friday night to a good anchorage, look at the stars and check out the fish (there were crazy phosphorescent fish the first night, one jumped into the dinghy and became bait). Saturday and Sunday are cruising around, stopping at a couple of interesting places, snorkeling in outstanding coral, and learning heaps of neat stuff. I learned the (historical) difference between a ship and a boat, I learned about dolphins, about different kinds of fish and sand, a little too much about a critter called the “blue bottle” (Portugese Man O War) — I got stung pretty well — and now I know all about tides, navigation, a little bit about how sails work and how to use them, a new knot or two, where Beta and Alpha Centauri are… I could just go on and on. I probably learned more in the last 3 days than I have in the last year.
On top of all that, it was beautiful weather. I slept on the deck last night, and the stars the whole time were spectacular. Lots of shooting stars (Stern Schnuppe). 6 knots under full sail under a bright sun and over clear blue water. That’s a little slice of heaven.
Needless to say, I’m pretty chilled out right now. Too bad I’ll be on a bus all day tomorrow, but Fraser is coming up, followed by surfing for a couple of weeks. Won’t be too shabby.
I will learn to sail. Gotta happen. Some more pics:
