Surf's up...
A year afloat: to the Caribbean and back
Sam and Alex Fortescue
Sat 13 Nov 2010 11:17
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It's becoming easy to forget that we're about to
cross the Atlantic. The ARC seems as much about parties as it does about the
serious business of getting ready to go to sea. We've passed our security check
and yesterday, Jerry the rigger gave us the once over, declaring after an hour
of inspection that "I would definitely go sailing in this boat". Alex had the
unenviable task of hauling both me and Jerry up the mast at the same time so he
could take me through the checks to make regularly. After a day of surfing, I
think that was the last straw for Alex "Which Way to the Beach"
Fortescue.
The surfing was seriously good fun. It was as
chaotically organised as you'd expect from a laid back surfer dude, and he duly
met us 45 minutes late in the bus, then left us standing for another 45 minuites
on the beach while he tried to find a parking spot. We had 30 minutes of
'theory', including 'how to get off' - not something any of us thought we'd have
a problem with. We were then handed 9 foot foam boards, which are designed to
catch the foam of a wave once it has broken, rather than the breaking wave. On
these, it's almost impossible not to catch waves. They don't steer much, so you
just have to point at the beach and hope there's no-one in the way. Awesome fun,
but completely exhausting.
The day was finished off with a welcome party
thrown by the Town Hall. This involved inordinate speeches in well intentioned
but unintelligible English - I think we gleaned more from the rapid Spanish
version. Then, a couple of carnival acts featuring Rio-style drumming and an
extraordinary routine by a couple of skinny chaps in silver leotards and a
bolshy transvestite wearing foot-high platform soles and wings. One of the
dancers appeared not to know the routine, and we speculated that he'd been roped
in at the last minute due to illness. but in the cool surroundings of palms and
fountains in a park near the marina, the show was strangely entertaining. The
chap with wings spent the hour after his show having his photo taken with
grinning yotties.
Today, we're going to explore the town a bit,
having barely left the marina in 5 days, and tidy Summer Song ahead of an influx
of crew and visitors next week.
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