Sailing off out into Bermuda blue...
Trip Start
Sep 02, 2009
1
20
42
Trip End
May 05, 2010
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Friday, November 6, 2009
Okay, so with that off my chest, I think it's time for some good old fashioned ranting. Anyone who knows me well knows that I love to do this, so here it goes...
First of all, I have seen some stupid animals in my life, but the seagull that was stuck inside the entrance to a store today and repeatedly hit the same window trying to get out was probably tops in that category.
Secondly, listen up people: Escalators are two people wide for a reason. Stand on one side (preferably the same side as the slow lane on the roads in your country) and let me by. Certainly don't situate your fat ass in the middle of the escalator and expect me to wait for you to move your heaving bulk. I have shit to do, get the hell out of my way. Please.
Thirdly: Gents, anyone who's buying dress shoes or owns more than one pair please PLEASE don't buy the ones with the pointy toes. And by this, I mean anything from a flat out point to the ones that are really long but have pointy square toes. If you wear them, you look like a f*cking elf, and no one will take you seriously. And if you wear them with jeans you look like an elf who's trying to be stylish but failing miserably. Solution? Square toe, or round toe, and nothing else. I'll give anyone who owns a pair like an inch to an inch and a half of leeway past their toe, but anymore than that and they incur my ridicule.
Finally, this Mo-vember thing is really starting to get to me. Other than the fact that I'm beginning to look like a scruffy hobo, my damn chin is really beginning to itch. I might have to shave or I'll end up looking like Santa Claus.
That is all. Man that felt good.
Okay, so on to what I've been doing. I bought like ten hours of internet time at this place cause it was super cheap, but it doesn't seem that they have SD card slots in their computer so I might not be putting some pics up for a while, but anyways, that's cool.
Oh my buddha it's been a while since I've posted anything of merit on this blog. So, let's start where I left off:
Basically, while I was doing sailing lessons the nightlife for me was virtually nonexistant. I had to get up in the morning at 6:30 to 7:00, depending on what I wanted to do, and get down to Rushcutter's Bay stone cold sober for 8:30 or 9, so I really couldn't do much in the way of partying. But, on another note, the guys in my room partied extra hard for me, and even brought women back to the dorm room and helped rock me to sleep cause I was on the top bunk! Joy!
Oh actually, I did party a couple nights, which leads back to the fact that German girls are crazy, but that's stories for another time and place I think.
Aaanyways, besides that ridiculous amount of awkwardness, I had some good times out on those sailboats. Learned so so SO much about the sport it's unbelievable. The boats that I did my initial lessons on are called J24's, and they're apparently quite popular. Great little boats, fun to rip around in and not at all too complicated.
Didn't really do much in the afternoons after my sail lessons either; one day I went to Toranga Zoo, and a couple others I ripped around Darling Harbor, did the Sydney Aquarium and Sydney Tower, but really not much to tell other than that. Toranga Zoo, I will say though, was pretty incredible.
So, after I finished my C1: Set Sail, I embarked on my 5 day Competent Crew course. Basically, what it boils down to is this: stuck on a 35 foot yacht for 5 days with four other guys and no showers. If you can manage to sail in those conditions, then you can sail in bloody well anything.
Bahaha. Actually it was really informative. I learned a ton and a half about things on a boat, what a good crew does, how it works together, how to trim sails, how to work the helm good(ish), etc. Learned anchoring techniques, docking techniques, mooring techniques, sailing on all points of sail, man overboard techniques, yachting under power, that 3 meter swells and hangovers don't combine very well, folding, storing, raising, changing, and reefing sails, and I even managed to learn quite a bit about navigation and meteorology while I was at it.
The reason why it was so informative for me was because our instructor was a 3 time Sydney to Hobart race winner, had competed in America's Cup races, and probably every other bloody race you could ever think of. He knew literally EVERYTHING you could ever want to know about the sport and more.
Anyways, that was my course. It was good fun. Since I've gotten back I really haven't done that much. Did some laundery, visited Manly today (which was very cool, very chilled out. They had a surf festival and competition going on today which was pretty dopeskies), and am in the middle of trying to organize some Uluru and Kakadu tours, but the train company is trying to ruin my life as usual so I'm having a bit of trouble with it.
Okay folks, that's all for now! I'll try to get better at keeping this up to date and hopefully will try to post some pictures as well tomorrow. Cheers!
PS Youtube "Beached Az." It's making fun of Kiwi accents which are hilarious in their own right, but you probably have to have a stupid sense of humor like Niki and I to really get a kick out of it.
Comments
Hi Allen--Your blog is great --we enjoy the detail you put into your stories
. Love you --nana & Grandpa Comstock