Incredibly fun time sailing and racing on the Eleonora for the Westward Cup 2015!
Wow what a Yacht. Huge challenge for me as I am much more accustomed to 50′ and less. Everything is much larger and almost surreal because of the dimensions. You go to grab for a block or tackle and it is almost unrecognizable. It literally takes a full crew just to manage the sail hoists. I learned so much including new types of sails called the fisherman and the Gollywobbler!
When I first came on board in the early morning hours I felt humbled and awed by this magnificent craft. I went around introducing myself to the crew members on board and to the skipper. They all asked if I had experience on Classic Boats before and I had to say “NO”. They were all very nice but I could see the look in their eyes that I had a lot to learn and boy did I. Can I say foremast topsail tack!!
Now I have sailed for a long time and as many of you know I used to live on my 36′ Lancer in San Diego Harbor, but all of this was new to me and integrating into a crew was a challenge all on it’s own. I was able to overcome the fear by focusing on the excitement of learning all this new stuff. I jumped in anywhere I could and pulled sheets with the best of them. My one regret was that I knew I didn’t have the youth in me anymore to have hooked up and flown to the top of the masts, what a view that would have been. Darla would probably be happy that I didn’t do that though, cheesy grin. I did however climb out onto the bowsprit and attend to the sails. That was a rush!
Sailing on a Yacht this large is a different experience with regard to communication as well. The skipper, 1st mate and bowmen have radios to communicate and very seldom do the crews in different parts of the boat see each other. When you are so focused on doing your job sometimes you don’t even have time to look up and see where you are.
Made new friends including a french chap named Pierre who, unbeknownst to me lives in San Diego with his pregnant wife and had sailed with my good friend Joe Saad many times! Very small world. He crewed permanently on the yacht for a year all over the world and came back to help out for this series of races.
What an honor to be here. I am so grateful to have been invited. Thank you to Mr. Zacks and Skipper/tactician Mike MacMillan! Also a shout out to my lovely wife who inspired me to put myself out there.
It is frowned upon for the crew to go around taking pix etc… so I snuck a few and will post them below with some youtube stuff just so you can get an idea of the scale onboard.
So in summary, incredible experience and I say to all of those of you out there who experience self doubt and don’t choose to put yourself out there to be in a position to test yourself and grow, doing the things you love to do, STOP rethink that and see the possibilities to become more of who you are. Listen to the people around you who encourage you to grow and challenge yourself. This lifetime is short and your experience in this life is of your own making! Go for it!
I am going out to practice tomorrow morning early! I am so excited I can’t even tell you. After I do incredibly well in the 3 day series they may invite me back to compete with them in THE big race around the Isle of Wight! We are so lucky to be in the right place! Darla prompted me to talk to the Yacht Club and thanx to her motivation I received a call this evening from the skipper asking if I would like to join them tomorrow as crew! Thank you dear!
Living the DREAM, living abroad; how exciting, wonderful, fabulous, and its ALL the time right?
Well not exactly and not always; And, its ok to admit it to yourself and go ahead and have a bad day. Because sometimes it just is a bad day no matter where you are.
Missing family, weddings, showers, birthdays. Missing just “normal” things like Whole Foods, sunsets, BBQs, your own bed, your STUFF – it will happen. It does happen! Those “things”, sometimes just make your day feel like you can’t take it abroad any longer. In my world I call it my 10th day
Whenever we traveled on holiday, before we moved; it always seemed I cracked on day 10. Meaning, I had a melt down of frustration or crying, because I just wanted to be home in my bed, my house, with my things. I was tired of not speaking the language, my feet hurt from all the walking, tired of the food being weird, taxi drivers being rude, or, who knows what IT was but on day 10, I always seemed to melt down.
Once we ID’d that as a known fact, We knew to always fly home on Day 10. But NOW? Now, we live here and you know what, I had Day 10, it was just a bad day and I had to just let myself do it. Let myself Know, hey its Day 10, but its ok.
Get whatever makes you happy, makes you have comfort: a cup of hot Jo or tea or great glass of wine and just stay home, even if home is a hotel room. Don’t shower, don’t get dressed, just stay there and watch tv all day and surf the web. It WILL pass and then you are back to your adventurous self once again, ready to get going and see new sights.
You are going to feel like a fool complaining about a bad day as a world traveler to your family and friends; boohoo poor you in the middle of Rome feeling Blue! Tell me a sob story right? Well, yes, there are reasons why traveling can make you have bad days even when you are surrounded by wondrous beauty, history and sights. #1 thing I can suggest- is Its ok to let yourself feel it.
Just live it, deal with it and then let it go and get back to the FUN you dreamed of and are Now living. Let Day 10 happen, and then go kick ass sight seeing on Day 11 🙂
Great Question! I was asked recently by a friend planning a trip to the Med, what is the best way to stay connected? I have tried all the different methods of staying connected for both data and Voice. There are many choices and ways to go about it when traveling and will vary based on the individual and their needs.
Traveling short term the best bet is to make sure your current plan has international roaming and a set price plan for the voice and some basic amount of data. Then turn off your cellular data roaming. Then use wifi strictly for data. Once you get to this side of the pond you will find that everyone has free wifi unlike the states.
If on the other hand you are going to spend some time traveling then the far better choice is to simple get a pay as you go sim from one of the many providers. I currently use EE in the UK. I get 10 gigs and unlimited calls and texts for 29 pounds a month. Way cheaper than the US!
Remember to turn off the cellular data and make great use of all the available wifi spots! Be mindful because everything you do except call a phone number uses data now days.
There are a large number of communication APPS you can use to make calls, text and video calls over the internet for free and I will address them in another article soon.
If you have more questions you can always send them to me @ [email protected]
Retired, traveling for a living, Blogging for a living?
You need business cards to represent yourselves. You will meet so many great and interesting people in your travels and if you want to stay in touch, and have a bit more than just adding them to your iPhone directory, a business card still fits the bill. This is our new card front and back info. Hope you like it, we are awaiting their delivery by mail. thanks to Vista Print you don’t even have to go and find a printer!
In reality I haven’t Truly driven in the UK, Darren has but not me, I’m too damn scared!
Forget the steering wheel on the right hand side and driving on the left hand side! that I can probably get figured out and get over.
What scares me to Death is the scariest, tiniest roads on the planet earth! Literally, *(like all of Europe) these are One lane streets, that in reality were really one horse cart or one horse paths, now covered in asphalt and meant to drive cars and Lorries (that’s truck in British!) and wait, drum roll, side by side meaning one in each direction!!!!
Two lane roads, one going each direction, where it was Really meant for one horse buggy not a car with side mirrors! Then they say, hey why not, lets make it two ways! Not a one way road with just one car but two directions AND drum roll again……..And, the locals park on the street as there are no garages or driveways! Now its a 3 lane road!!!!
Buses and double decker ones at that, with large delivery trucks, ALL go thru at 50-60 miles an hour. Lord help me, its white knuckles Daily to get in a car and go somewhere.
Ok now that I’ve done another one of my rants, I will add this: the English and the Europeans are the best damn drivers and make Americans look like babies! They drive doing all of the above and rarely are there wrecks. The best of them? –the crazy tour bus drivers, they drive those HUGE Rock Star buses thru these streets, turning in hair pin turns that a pony would have trouble carrying a rider, and never nick the side of a building or their bumper. Even though they make me faint and or throw up with fear as they come at us in our car, they Always make it with not even a hair breath of space between us, never hitting anyone or anything! just amazing to watch.
I don’t know if I will EVER learn to drive here, I can drive all over California at 80+mph with crazy ”Zonie” drivers, but here, its insane.
Made new friends including a french chap named Pierre who, unbeknownst to me lives in San Diego with his pregnant wife and had sailed with my good friend Joe Saad many times! Very small world. He crewed permanently on the yacht for a year all over the world and came back to help out for this series of races.
