61 45 00 W
0629 UTC
05.04.08
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ah, stress.
like bogaert used to say. except of course the stress that invigorates and lifts a person up is generally welcome. it's most premium to be once again on the water. And though i prefer to sleep aboard than ashore and the part where there's an element of fun in any meals taken on a boat whether mine or a friend's, there's not a lot that compares to being on passage. especially after all the ass-busting that we'd been doing in the days leading up to departure.
sort of sad to leave Antigua, but that's to be expected in a way. a great brunch was had at the 'hot, hot, hot spot' ~ arnold is back in BC by now but joy was around and i must say, the breakfaast panini was such a delicious treat i'm disappointed i waited until my last morning in Antigua to have one.
After the innumerable but expected delays, the last but not least meaningful of which were the stolen tender event and the guard rail tearing a hole in our port sugar scoop, the crew was rewarded with night out in St. John's. Buju Banton was playing in a spanky new concert venue behind the Paradise Casino ~ it's called Paradise Lawn and probably would hold around 4,000 or so. a great looking and sounding concert stage put together by this fellow from florida IATSE. we rushed to get there and arrived at a completely empty venue. no people, just crew. and waited, and waited. when the first band finally got going, Matthew decided that it was a school night and it would be best to jet. Midori, Tom and i hung around for the show3, but at a certain point Midori fired us from waiting for Buju. she said it was comical (not her words) to return to the VIP room (where we had set up residence in the only chairs to be had) to find a room full of dancing people and the folks she came with snoring away, sitting upright in uncomfortable chairs. both tom and i were fully zapped ~ not surprising as tom consistently has been first awake hosing and scrubbing our deck. it's been good to have a slight spur to get moving in the morning. still, succession of 6 AM wakeup times and late-night sailing week parties meant staying up until 3AM ~ i think it was fully 345AM when we got back in that rainstorm. staying awake any longer was not a realistic plan. in the bus on the way back i saw tom and midori both fading in and out of consciousness. tom has a photo of midori and i looking sleepy on the bus. it's funny.
we got back to rhodes lane in a tremendous rainstorm. tom hid from the rain on a porch across from sweeties. midori sprinted down the road to the marina. not in a sprinting mood, i did my best to figure out where tom went and sauntered through the rain back to the boat.
buju, alas.
our RIB was stolen from the dinghy dock on the last night of sailing week, along with the gas tanks for a whole bunch of other tenders (*a tender is a smallish, often inflatable boat that gets you to and fro when the vessel is moored ~ or to the coffee place across the harbour if you want to miss the 45 minute walk. it was unfortunately our RIB that was the getaway vehicle our thief used to abscond with everyone's gas. and it's probably for sale in St. Martin or something today, but tracking it down doesn't fit in the 'realistic' category.
brian, mid swim
sky looks great. crew is doing well, though there's been more vom in this day than our entire last crossing. oh well, these guys are tough and can handle it. one good thing: lots of dinner and there's even leftover pasta that i intend to make the most of. there was /even/ leftover cheese toast that i just got to eat. mmmm. portabello.
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manchego ~ an asiago type cheese. tasty on melties.
