A very dark bedroom, and the door doesn't quite close, probably due to the 5mm overlap between door and frame at the bottom, so full marks to Jen for moving the door-retaining chair and getting out and back on a loo trip. Very very impressed!
The porridge went down well, with some fruit and nuts on it, lots of tea, yum. Off to see Goran and friends, very busy with people turning up at 10-ish, and it seems windier today. Unfortunately by the time I've elbowed my way to the front of the queue, he only a 5.3 or a 4.2, and I know Juan and Rog, who can both give me a few kilos, are taking that size. Should be interesting, and yes, thanks Goran, I know it's all in the mind…
And so it proves to be. On the same 92l Angulo Super Gu as last night, with the 5.3, yes it's hard work, but I can head up wind when it's too much, and it certainly eases waterstarts! Todays plan is the strap-to-strap gybe, basically flip the sail so you're switch stance before planing out and changing the feet. I thought this would be good for rig flipping practice, and it is. Of course, the first few involve working out what's happening, since I didn't really manage to do one in my mind when worrying about it at 4 this morning, but the idea comes. Feels good, and finally I make one. I then crack a few more, which is very very happy-making. At one point the boom clamp came undone, which is a bit scary because it was very hard to do up on the beach when I was adjusting the height, but it went back easily in the water. I went back to the beach and fiddled with it a bit to make it tighter. So bang off a few more strap-to-straps, until I get tired and head back. It turns out that all the other lags are already in, looking for lunch, so I park the board up and head home. A good morning, and I mustn't get stressed! Interesting that they lasted no longer than me, and possibly less.
Juan, Jen and I go on the hunt for lunch stuff - baguettes from the baker, some cheese and salami from the scrupulously clean deli, some tomatoes, papayas, oranges from the fruit selling ladies well-known for last time - the competition is strong, with the quiet one a target for tomorrow's purchases! Nice lunch. Rog wants wine - ok guy, you have it, I'm having enough trouble keeping my act together as it is, a feeling echoed by just about everyone else. Gen is having a rest, with a cold and an emerging ear infection. Let's see what the afternoon brings…
Oh yes, met Rimo the Swiss guy from last time who's here for a week, until Friday. He came on a forecast, brought his own kit (one board, one sail!) coming via Lisbon from Zurich, and has had a good time so far. Wind until Thursday people are saying. His wife is at home still ;-), so lucky man. I must get his email so I can send him the pictures from last time.
The afternoon starts after a leisurely sandwich, good salami! Those of us who left our boards on the beach instead of packing them away in approved style are surprised to find they're where we left them - this is handy, because Duncan gets a different one which he isn't too pleased with. The wind's much the same, so we take much the same kit out, and yes, the 5.3 is still pretty big! I'm more tired this afternoon, and after an hour of bashing around, I've lost the tape on my thumbs and and I'm out the back in the swell finding it hard to work out how to waterstart, so I know it's time to stop. Amazingly, Gen and Duncan have had the same thought, and they're at the station with Jen, drying off. Makes me feel ok!
Gen heads off to the doctor's to get her eye flushed out, having collected some sand in it while sitting on the beach. We know nothing of this until she meets us back at the apartment. She'd taken a taxi up to the doctor's around the Djadsal, he'd picked the rock out of her eye and put in tome antibiotic as a precaution. She seems ok now though.
Another evening in Santa Maria - this time it's fish-based food sitting outside the restaurant on the street. Get back to the apartment, game of cards, then slump into bed. Great.
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