Jul. 28, 2007 - Just can't seem to leave Cadiz.......
Still here!! In Lovely Cadiz. Just can’t see to get away….. Well, not strictly true, big rally from Portugal in earlier this week so got kicked out for couple of nights. No great hardship, just went over the bay to Puerto De Santa Maria. NICE marina, actually a yacht club but they have berths available for visitors. Swimming pool and everything. Meant some early mornings though, just spent a week at Spanish School trying to learn a little more than Otro Cerveza por favor. This meant a ferry ride from Santa Maria to school, not the greatest hardship known to mankind!. Don’t think I was born with a natural flair for languages but now I get glimpses of conversations and sometimes even understand roughly the gist of what is being said so well worth it.
Been a great week, took 2 lots of friends out sailing,
Ola Nellie!, Ola Jorge Y Los Ninos! Ola Mamajuana! OLA CADIZ!!!
Habrá siempre un lugar en mi corazón para Cádiz y para todos mis amigos allí
Capitana Paula at the helm.
Nellie and Danny eating healthy in the cockpit.
Jorge Y Los Ninos
Such a nice way to spend an afternoon, do a bit of sailing, anchor up in a bay for something to eat and a glass of wine then sail back to Cadiz.
And if that’s not enough fun I was privileged to see some absolutely drop dead fantastic, buy some more hats so you can take them off Flamenco the other night. Quite possibly not actually possible to play guitar like that with only 2 hands each with 5 fingers but these guys hadn’t been told that. And dancing with passion. No, really, dancing with so much PASSION! All in a perfect venue, Baluarte de La Candelaria, a fort built in 1672 now used as an arts venue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A1diz
All in the open air in a perfect place with the moon and the stars watching over us.
Hats off.
And more tonight in a tree lined square, in the cool of the night surrounded by the wonderful, open, kind, friendly people of Cadiz.
No wonder I’m still here.
But enough of day to day events, blog needs a bit more home spun philosophy and details of what living and cruising under sail is really like, I think.
Now there are lots of books about long distance sailing, perhaps the first was “survive the savage storm” by Noah. (Possibly still available from amazon, some quotes: “40 days and 40 nights is a long time, take plenty of books”, “forget the 2 of each rule when it comes to doves, I was lucky but 'tis good seamanship to have spares”)
Some examples of reality.
- It’s commonly believed that red and green channel buoys are there to mark a deep water channel into a bay or whatever. This isn’t actually the case, merely a coincidence, a happy accident if you will. The real purpose of these red a green floating bits of metal so that the wind knows exactly which way to blow so as to be right on your nose when entering or leaving. And even more complex than that, 2 boats can in a channel, one leaving one entering, going in exactly opposite directions maybe ¼ mile apart. The wind is so clever that it can be right on the nose for each boat. Must be some quantum physics effect, something to do with Schrödinger’s undead cat. Or was that in Pirates of the Caribbean? I get confused.
- Another example: If you find yourself having a conversation like this it’s time to tidy the boat and head out to sea. (This is based on actual events but the names and places have been changed to protect the identity of those involved.
Alright it was me and a mate in Lazyjacks in Lagos.)
”So what’s your favourite shower cubicle?”
”Well……2’s good, not keen on 6, got to be 5 really”
”Yeah, 2’s not bad, doesn’t have the little shelf of your soap and shampoo though. Good consistence of water temperature, though. Hate that when someone uses a tap at the sink and the water goes hot, 1’s really bad for that. Don’t like 1. 6 is useless, no pressure. No, you’re right, 5’s the one. “
“Yeah, 5’s the best”
”Yeah, 5’s as good as it gets.
.
.
’Nother glass of red?”
This is when I knew it was time to tidy the boat and eat a few miles.
So all for now, it’s seven O’clock on a Saturday and I must have a little siesta and head out into town to see some more flamenco and just to have the pleasure of being a part of Cadiz on a cool summers evening.
Hasta A Luego.
Feel free to comment or email, never know if anyone actually reads this or not. Either way it’s fun to scribble!
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