San Juan, Puerto Rico

So this is a little late, as I was in Puerto Rico two weeks ago, but I've been hustling around the yacht club trying to get things arranged for our next regatta and haven't found the time to put a new post up. I know it only takes two seconds but the team and myself are travelling to St. Croix this weekend and it is a logistical nightmare trying to get 6 kids, and 6 boats with all the rigging, and myself over from Tortola, via private yachts. On top of that, I have 7 buddies from Canada meeting me in St. Croix and travelling back to Tortola for a week of cruising, and more than likely some boozing.

Anyway, Puerto Rico was quite the trip. It was my first regatta coaching the BVI Sailing team and we were in full attendance as it was a qualifier for the upcoming OPTINAM (Optimist North Americans). Puerto Rico is the smallest of the Greater Antilles islands, but compared to Tortola, it's enormous. The population is around 4 million, and it has a huge American influence as it is an unincorporated territory. By large influence, I really mean it was like landing in Florida, except everyone is speaking Spanish. There were highways, and high rises, and mansions, and ghettos, and McDonald's and Starbucks, Wendy's and Dunkin Donuts, and everyone drives nice cars. Needless to say, I was re-culture-shocked from being in Tortola for the past several months.

The yacht club hosting the regatta was at was actually the Puerto Rican Navy docks. Puerto Ricans are known around the BVI for showing up in a navy-like fashion, meaning they show up with a flotilla of 5 or 6 huge luxury fishing yachts with outriggers and towers that are the height of a sail boat mast. The usually roll into the North Sound of Virgin Gorda, raft up, and party all weekend long. They travel with their entire family from the dog and the cat to the nannies and the maids. Anyway, the yacht club had dozens and dozens of these boats fishing yachts and maybe 4 sailing yachts in their docks.

The regatta itself was rather poorly run and there was a lot of trouble with the scoring of my team which resulted in me filling out a lot of inquiry forms. The race course was way out in San Juan harbour and we had a great view of Fort San Felipe del Morro. My team sailed well and overall we finished with a 2nd in Laser 4.7 fleet, a 2nd in Optimist Green fleet, and a 1st in Optimist White fleet.

Puerto Rico was a lot of fun! It would have been nice to actually get to see more of San Juan, maybe to do some shopping at the Mall of America, and eat some more rice and beans, but by the end of each day I was way to tired to bother going out exploring.

These are a few photos I snapped with my iphone while on the water.

Staff Training Day

On Friday morning we had an on-water session with the sailing staff at RBVIYC. The wind was howling as is seasonal this time of year, and the sun was out, so it was bound to be a great time. We had a coach boat on the water just in case of an emergency or a broken mast, but thankfully it was all fun, and we got a bunch of nice photos. Here are the highlights.

Behind The Times

I know, I know. Slacking, procrastinating, being busy doing other things. Whatever you want to call it, I have not had a real post in a while. It can be attributed to a few different reasons:

1. Over the holidays I had some visitors. My parents came to down to visit over Christmas, and just as they left, Mallory arrived and was here over New Years and for a while after.

2. The yacht club hired a new Director of Sailing, and his work permit went through at the end of December. So, upon returning to work after the holidays, we had a lot of work to do. I mean, I've never worked as much as I have in the past month in a sailing program before.

3. I got a vehicle.

As a result, I didn't spend much time on the computer while I had visitors, and I have been working my ass off around the club getting stuff organized for our new program, and when I have free time I've been trying to get out and do stuff, like go surfing! I did take a ton of pics though while my parents and Mallory were here, and if you haven't checked them on my facebook yet, then check out a few below.

Well, that's all for now, I will do my best to have more frequent updates, and I just got a new camera so I'll take as many pics as I can. Saturday is Chris' last day at the yacht club, and we may be going cruising on our days off on a 78 foot yacht. Hopefully this will happen and I will have some sweet pics.

New Blog Site!

I have decided to start my blog up on a new blog platform as my other one was a little unreliable. So I just threw up my old posts, and this one to say what up! Expect more soon.

My New Ride

December 22, 2009

Yesterday was an epic day for me. I bought my very first vehicle. My parents have always been generous in letting me use their cars, but for the first time in my life, I have my own. It is a red 1996 Mitsubishi Pajero with a 5-speed transmission, and 4-wheel drive. It's nothing fancy or impressive, quite the opposite really, since it is a typical island vehicle. What I mean by 'island vehicle' is that it has a couple dents in the bumpers and infront of the passenger side door, the paint is sunfaded, many of the door pulls have come off, the locks are finicky, the seats don't quite lock into place all the time, and some of the upholestery is patched up with duct tape. Despite the minor flaws, it runs pretty well, and I love it regardless.

In a way, my new truck reminds me of David Marr's Camry. His car became an integral part of our university family, as it made many good times possible, whether it be trips to the grocery store, the weekend road trips to Tremblant and the parties that ensued. It, too, had it's flaws, like having to shut it off to change CDs, but this gave me a strong appreciation for Nelly's Country Grammar album. It was in it's flaws that it became the perfect ride. We were forced to make the best of it, and even some issues we had with it turned out to be good memories, like when the starter motor went, and we had to push start the car down a snowy road all while chanting the Jamaican bobsled rhyme.

With my truck I now have the freedom to go where I want, when I want. I can get out of Road Town and explore the island! I know that this vehicle will bring me many good times and memories, just as Dave's Camry did. Now I just need to figure out a name for it! Any suggestions?

Big Things Happening

December 18, 2009

I've definitely been slacking on the updating of my blog this past week. It's been a busy few weeks for me here, not much time for limin'.

I have been organizing the Holiday Sailing Camps at RBVIYC, and that has been quite the learning experience! We just finished the first camp yesterday, and we start the next on the 21st! Things have been running smoothly, the kids are having fun, the weather has been good (no doubt!) and we have some good numbers next week as far as registration goes!

A couple weeks ago our coach boat was stolen right from the dock where it was locked up. Of course, when this happened Chris, the godfather of sailing himself, was in St. Thomas competing in a match racing regatta. So I had to deal with this myself, and I have no experience dealing with missing coach boats since that doesn't exactly happen to often back home in Canada. Apparently, dinghies get stolen pretty frequently around here, and this wasn't the first time the yacht club has had a coach boat stolen.

I spent a lot of time over the next week and a bit trying to find our missing coach boat. I filed reports with the police, sent out about 400 emails, made phone calls to marinas and charter and dive companies on the east and west end of the island, I drove around Road Harbour in our small dinghy searching for it, but with no luck. When Chris returned from St. Thomas, we borrowed a large and more powerful RIB to search along the coast and each end of the island. No luck their either, but when we were on the east end of the island, we saw some local fisherman slaughtering two of the largest sea turtles I've ever seen. It was absolutely gruesome, and turns out highly illegal. We ended up putting a press release on the BVI News website, and the next day an off-duty police officer spotted the boat at the Road Town ferry down while having a drink at a local bar. He went to investigate and the 3 youth that had the boat recognized him as police and scattered. Our boat was returned to us but is in extremely rough shape. So now I'm working on getting a sponsor to donate the yacht club a new RIB for our sailing programs.

This past weekend also brought about the holiday season with 3 back-to-back Christmas parties. The first was a pretty swanky affair, and our entourage rolled in dress to the part with flip-flop, shorts, and t-shirts. The second party was hosted by the owner of the boat I live on, Colin. He lives in an incredible house on the top of the mountain, and over looks Cane Garden Bay. His party was a pig roast, and it was amazing. It was the first pig roast I've ever been to, and it will not be the last. The food was incredible. The third party was also on the top of the mountain, and was a tonne of fun, with the old and the young challenging each other in rounds of beer pong. Chris and I were the reigning champs of the evening winning every game we played, as well as 6 games in a row.

It is very strange to be down in the Caribbean for Christmas, as it can be difficult to get in the holiday spirit without the cold weather, snow, and ugly sweaters. But mostly it is strange since I won't be having any turkey dinners with my family, there will be no snowboarding or partying with my closet friends, no Christmas eve traditions with Ryan, and I won't be able to enjoy all the delicious treats Mallory and her mother make! Thankfully, my parents are taking the opportunity to come visit me over Christmas (they probably just got on the ferry in St. Thomas right now) and then after Mallory will be visiting over New Years. I'm stoked I won't be alone over the holidays, but it is this time of year more than ever, that I realize what awesome friends and family I have, and how much I miss them right now!!! I'm also looking forward to February when all my boys come down!

That was a rather long update, I gotta keep posting more consistantly. On Monday I will find out if I'll be getting my first ever motor vehicle, so if all goes well I'll be posting some photos of that!

Happy Birthday!

December 10, 2009

Today is Miss Mallory's birthday, and I'm pretty bummed I couldn't be with her to celebrate. So I just wanted to wish her a Happy Birthday right here on my blog! Hope you have a great time out on the town tonight! Have fun!!