Hey again…
Well my new crew Elena arrived on Thursday and things are going very well… maybe I am going to be ok.
Elena is tiny… or maybe I am a giant… I’m not sure which. She had a long trip taking 2 separate flights to come into the Bahamas from Lima Peru. She was tired and worn down. I greeted her at the airport and just brought her home to WildChild. We sat on the deck to watch the sunset and she went down below to sleep for the next 12 hours.
Sleeping on a boat can actually be a very soothing experience. I think the gentle motion of the boat at anchor may have just rocked her to sleep that first night. She slept like a baby.
Yesterday we got to know each other a bit and I got her familiar with the boat. I kind of introduced my new roommate to the apartment if you will. Living on a boat is different than living on land, we do things differently. For non-sailors flushing the toilet on a boat can be an intimidating experience. So we had to get her familiar with boat things.
We made water for an hour in the morning then went to shore. We are in the “big city” now of Marsh harbor and with lots of provisioning options nearby we went to shore to go shopping. We spent most of yesterday walking around getting to know the Bahamas for her and getting things on my mission list for the boat. I finally bought myself a new watch so there is a better chance now of me knowing what day of the week or month it is.
We also went to the grocery store where Elena learned how freakin expensive the food is here. The prices in the Bahamas are generally like 1.5x – 2.0x times the price they would be in the USA. We bought just a little food and it cost us $200. This is cruising life.
Things with Elena. I thought about this for a while. I began to realize before she came how much I am depending on her to succeed. I have a lot riding on her, the unknown variable. With an optimistic view of hopeful future things I was a bit nervous to meet her at the airport. It turns out… Elena is great. She is pretty much exactly what I had hoped for.
Elena has a bit of a wild spirit herself. She has been world traveling for 2.5 years. I think being a little wild / adventurous / crazy works well for a good sailor. She is gentle kind and easy going. She is intelligent and thoughtful before she speaks. We have been getting along just great. I think we will work out great as roommates. Elena is kind of introverted and a bit passive though. I realize from her point of view she is in a new and unfamiliar place and it may take her time to get comfortable. No worries… we have time.
It is funny but all my friends (who know me) have been cautioning me not to overwhelm Elena. It makes me laugh because it can totally be me sometimes. I am an amazingly dominant powerful and overwhelming soul. I am super intelligent and that can over power people.
So on the first day I opened up my ZEN bible and read her the story of the cup of tea. Now we have a common language where she can tell me when her cup (brain) runneth full and let me know to stop with the flow of information and words. Give her brain time to rest.
I have learned over the years how to temper my presence and slow down to not overwhelm people. The problem for me at the moment is that I need her to learn how to sail…. and fast.
So the time table has been accelerated.
Monkey will bring his boat over sooner than expected. He is thinking that maybe by Wednesday of next week he might be able to make his crossing of the gulf stream. So by Wednesday (like 4 days from now) we might need to take WildChild north to meet up. So rather than having 2-3 weeks to teach her to sail I might only have 4 days to get her up to basic crew standards.
Remember she knows NOTHING about sailing. I have to start from the very beginning. I need to teach her what things on the boat are called. What they are for. How they work. How the engine works. How to handle the sails. And the basic physics of sailing like wind angles and lift and basic sail adjustments.
We have worked out a classroom schedule. We started this morning. We will have many small short classes a day. We will do the theoretical classroom stuff for 2 days. Then start getting up on deck and climbing all over the boat and touching stuff. By Tuesday or Wednesday we will go sailing.
Although I know how to do everything on the boat and technically I can do this alone… the more she knows… the more she can help… the easier this will get. On a sailboat a Team of 2 is much better than an army of 1.
We need to become a team soon.
Lets hope she doesn’t pop.
I pray she will do well. I feel like she’s got this. I have faith in Elena… there is something in her Character.
I will let you know in a few days how its going.
Cheers sailors…
Captain Lexi
…. the no longer lonely…