Blow Me Away!

Last weekend I took another trip with the sailing boat that welcomed me two weeks ago. This time we took part in a race that led us through a course around some buoys and back to Halkida. We did the same course on Saturday and Sunday.

Wind was much stronger than the last time. We had about 5-6 Beaufort on Saturday and 6-7 on Sunday. The boat is pretty big, so it went quite well with the rougher sea and I immensely enjoyed myself. Only on Sunday morning, while leaving from the port the wind was extremely calm and everybody wondered if the weather report could have been so wrong. Those boats who brought out their spinnakers soon learned that the weather report insisted on being right. They had to take them down as soon as the race started and the spinnakers started to flap around in the stiffening wind.

Our boat was in the process of changing to a bigger genoa sail, but we noticed the change of wind at the last moment. Only problem we had to fold and stow away the second sail again, no real harm done.

There were less people on the boat, so I had to help a little bit more than last time. I also started to pick up a tiny little bit more of the Greek naval terms. Understanding them wasn't much of a problem, as I see and feel what is meant when they are spoken. It seems to take some time for me to get them into my system so I can remember and speak them myself though.

On Sunday I really enjoyed the last bit of the race the most. We were racing in a straight line to the finishing line, going quite fast, it almost fellt like going on rails. I arrived tired, hungry, with my knees and shins all blue and red, my head with a funny red color (forgot to put on sunblock), but I was happy.