MY NEW HOME
She looked a fine vessel and my new captain and fellow shipmates seemed
a great bunch, very welcoming, but we were soon into some work, it seems to
never end! I have recently read somewhere
that sailing is the 'privilege of repairing your yacht in exotic places'! All good though and I was enjoying the start
of my education into sailing and close quarter minimalist living.
Only a few jobs to do the first afternoon and after a tour of the boat it was time for a shower at a marina about 10 minutes walk away. They don't often use a marina and on a boat you take a hot or fresh water shower whenever you can! Afterwards it was a relaxing couple of hours on the back deck with visitors, we ate snacks, a huge pot of mussels, fresh fish and washed it all down with a couple of glasses of wine, a great way to enjoy yacht living and my first night on the boat!
Very early the next morning we were up and into some more jobs, then a visit to the supermarket to stock up on supplies for a weekend out at one of the nearby islands. We sailed today and i hoisted the sail, i have also already landed my first fish, a decent salmon which is cooking right now.
I am sitting here now on the back deck writing this surrounded by beautiful scenery and around 50 really nice boats and yachts in a bay, having a beer and winding down. We will return to Auckland on Monday to get some repairs done and wait for the wind before heading to Tonga, an open ocean passage that may take up to 15 days.
The crew so far is Jean-Paul the Captain, his Vietnamese wife My, another Frenchman George and myself, everybody speaks French on board so i should pick some up along the way. My has proven herself to be an amazing cook, every meal has been superb and we have 3 course meals every night, followed by fresh fruit.
Jean-Paul is a hard working perfectionist it seems, with an easy going nature though, his English is limited so it is a little hard to communicate at the minute. George is a really nice guy and tends to do a lot of translating, though My speaks great English also.
Only a few jobs to do the first afternoon and after a tour of the boat it was time for a shower at a marina about 10 minutes walk away. They don't often use a marina and on a boat you take a hot or fresh water shower whenever you can! Afterwards it was a relaxing couple of hours on the back deck with visitors, we ate snacks, a huge pot of mussels, fresh fish and washed it all down with a couple of glasses of wine, a great way to enjoy yacht living and my first night on the boat!
Very early the next morning we were up and into some more jobs, then a visit to the supermarket to stock up on supplies for a weekend out at one of the nearby islands. We sailed today and i hoisted the sail, i have also already landed my first fish, a decent salmon which is cooking right now.
I am sitting here now on the back deck writing this surrounded by beautiful scenery and around 50 really nice boats and yachts in a bay, having a beer and winding down. We will return to Auckland on Monday to get some repairs done and wait for the wind before heading to Tonga, an open ocean passage that may take up to 15 days.
The crew so far is Jean-Paul the Captain, his Vietnamese wife My, another Frenchman George and myself, everybody speaks French on board so i should pick some up along the way. My has proven herself to be an amazing cook, every meal has been superb and we have 3 course meals every night, followed by fresh fruit.
Jean-Paul is a hard working perfectionist it seems, with an easy going nature though, his English is limited so it is a little hard to communicate at the minute. George is a really nice guy and tends to do a lot of translating, though My speaks great English also.
