Paul has several friends that he made at university in South Africa who are now living in England, most of them up north. We try to see them every few months. When Kirsten, the wife of one of them, Budge, called to invite us to celebrate Budge’s birthday by sailing from Southampton to the Isle of Wight with a group of her friends, we jumped at it. One of them is a skipper. They hired out two 50-foot sailing yachts and another skipper, who is also South African. The others spent Friday night on the yachts, but Paul and I drove down Saturday morning for the trip across the Solent and a night in Cowes on the Isle of Wight.
Budge, Kirsten, and me on the way to the Isle of Wight What a weekend. As some of you know, Paul is a bit of gear head, and I’ve managed to collect a nice assortment of cold and wet weather gear myself. We can both just about go from head to toe in Gortex. Another thing some of you know about us is that we’ve become quite proud of how lightly we pack. Can you see where this is going? Being mountain and not sea people, we sided with packing light rather than the gear and left most of the waterproof stuff at home. The fatal flaw was bringing only one pair of pants, jeans. It was November, and it’s England. Of course it rained. And rained. And rained. Paul steered the boat for a while and took on at least a pound of water in his jeans.
Paul at the helm I got wet just from spray and sitting on a boat. Saturday wasn’t too cold or rough, so we weren’t miserable. It was actually a lot of fun. We sailed around, chasing the wind because Budge wanted speed. I’ve never been in a sailboat that big. It was like being on a roller coaster, switching between terrifying and calm as the waves and wind changed.
Chasing the wind We docked at about 16:00, and several people took a nap, including me. We had an en suite cabin to ourselves. It wasn’t luxurious, but it was nice. At about six, everyone crowded onto one boat, and the party began.
The beginning of the pre-pub party We moved to a pub for dinner and dancing. The dance floor had a lot of people on it, but they were all just standing and staring at the band. When all 18 of us started dancing, the band got a bit more animated. Then the stage diving started. At the end of the show, they said they had never had anyone stage dive and they were going to book places with taller stages in the future. No, I didn’t jump. We continued the party on one of the yachts until 3:30. The rain started not long after that and didn’t stop until Monday morning. Our trip back was cold and wet. The sea was too rough to be below deck, so we huddled under what little shelter there was with all but the skipper and a couple of highly geared girls, and we still got soaked. This was no pleasure cruise but a beeline trip to our destination. My only consolation was that unlike everyone else, I didn’t have a hangover. If Paul had any tendency to seasickness, this would have brought it out.
Budge, Kirsten, and me on the way to the Isle of Wight What a weekend. As some of you know, Paul is a bit of gear head, and I’ve managed to collect a nice assortment of cold and wet weather gear myself. We can both just about go from head to toe in Gortex. Another thing some of you know about us is that we’ve become quite proud of how lightly we pack. Can you see where this is going? Being mountain and not sea people, we sided with packing light rather than the gear and left most of the waterproof stuff at home. The fatal flaw was bringing only one pair of pants, jeans. It was November, and it’s England. Of course it rained. And rained. And rained. Paul steered the boat for a while and took on at least a pound of water in his jeans. 
Paul at the helm I got wet just from spray and sitting on a boat. Saturday wasn’t too cold or rough, so we weren’t miserable. It was actually a lot of fun. We sailed around, chasing the wind because Budge wanted speed. I’ve never been in a sailboat that big. It was like being on a roller coaster, switching between terrifying and calm as the waves and wind changed. 
Chasing the wind We docked at about 16:00, and several people took a nap, including me. We had an en suite cabin to ourselves. It wasn’t luxurious, but it was nice. At about six, everyone crowded onto one boat, and the party began. 
The beginning of the pre-pub party We moved to a pub for dinner and dancing. The dance floor had a lot of people on it, but they were all just standing and staring at the band. When all 18 of us started dancing, the band got a bit more animated. Then the stage diving started. At the end of the show, they said they had never had anyone stage dive and they were going to book places with taller stages in the future. No, I didn’t jump. We continued the party on one of the yachts until 3:30. The rain started not long after that and didn’t stop until Monday morning. Our trip back was cold and wet. The sea was too rough to be below deck, so we huddled under what little shelter there was with all but the skipper and a couple of highly geared girls, and we still got soaked. This was no pleasure cruise but a beeline trip to our destination. My only consolation was that unlike everyone else, I didn’t have a hangover. If Paul had any tendency to seasickness, this would have brought it out.
1 comment:
Great to see you back in the blogging world! I am glad you guys are having so much fun right now. Take advantage of every minute - not that you won't have fun when the baby comes ... it's just a different kind of fun. :)
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