I can't believe how quickly my first week has gone. Time flies when you're having fun and all that. My journey started well with an upgrade on the flight over. Champagne or orange juice sir? Very Nice. Thanks Dad. Unfortunately due to the weather we couldn't land in Gibraltar and had to divert to Malaga. At 1115pm after an hour and a half coach journey and a lift from Gib airport, I finally arrived at The Rock hotel. Very posh it was too. Ofcourse I headed straight for the bar for a superb club sandwich and a pint of John Smith's. On Sunday Morning I was collected from the hotel by Gerry, my Dad's colleague, who then proceeded to give me a guided tour of Gib, punctuated with brief stops in a few of the pubs and bars. Had a fantastic lunch at his house - seafood cocktail, followed by swordfish steaks with baked aubergine. For a man who claims not to eat fish, I didn't do too badly. It was delicious.
I checked in at the sailing school after lunch where I met the rest of the people on the course. There are ten of us in total, although only six doing the full fourteen week fastrack course. I'm on a 44' Yacht called Time Out 2, with Tony (our skipper/instructor), Steve, Tom, Rich and Louise who are all very nice. We all went out for dinner at Bianca's, a resaurant on the quayside for more beer and 'Beef Viagra', claiming to be spicy but sadly all mouth and no trousers!
We were told before the course started that we would all have individual cabins. They left out the part where 2 people have to share a cabin with bunks in. I drew the short straw! So lying awake at 2am on my first night, with Steve in the bunk above me snoring violently, all I could think about was going home and forgetting all about it. Totally miserable and very homesick. Fortunately Gemma was only a text away (more like 20 texts actually) and managed to talk some sense into me! Alright now I've settled in.
The last week we have been getting to grips with the yacht and the basics of sailing. We spent Monday sailing in Gibraltar Bay but then on Tuesday ventured across the Straights to Smir in Morocco. One hell of a journey. We were all looking pretty green on arrival and I only just managed to hold on to my breakfast! A few miles out of Smir we were joined by some dolphins swimming and jumping alongside us so we soon forgot about feeling ill. A day of berthing practice followed; a course in how not to break the yacht on a wall, or someone elses yacht... On Thursday the plan was to sail back to Gib but some 30 south Westerly winds prevented us from going anywhere in the right direction, so we did more sailing exercises, tacking and jibing and other fun things. Plenty more dolphins to see too. Friday's forecast was a bit better, with lighter winds, so we got up at 6am for an early departure from Smir at about 7. The wind, once again, had other ideas. So, with the sails reefed and the motor on we headed back across the Straights. Bouncy. Stayed on deck the whole time to avoid sea sickness again. It took us about 4 and a half hours to get back to the bay, where we spent the rest of the day practicing man over board drills. Really good fun. I have spent today in the classroom doing my VHF radio course to get an operator's certificate, which was a good laugh. Practicing sending Maydays in a cool, calm and collected manner. I'm not so sure I'd be so calm in the event I actually needed to do it for real.
The weather has been fantastic this week, I'm slowly turning a healthier colour but factor 40 every hour is the only safe way to go. After 2 hours at the helm on day one I had sunburnt knuckles! We've been eating very well. We get a budget and shop a week at a time. There's a Morrisons just down the road. The boat next to us are rubbish at meal planning and cooking, so it's a running joke between us all. I'm not looking forward to switching crews!
I think we are spending tomorrow doing boat cleaning and maintenance. The beginners guide to marine toilets. Nice. Not the ideal way to spend a Sunday but there you go. It can't all be fun and games. Did I mention the weather? In actual fact we tend to use the shower and toilet facilities in whichever marina we're in, so still living in relative comfort. More so than the house in Portsmouth anyway! No idea what the plan is for next week. Probably back over to Africa to a place called Ceuta. The adventure continues!
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