Monthly Archives: May 2007

11/05/2007

choose life

By hairygoose
 
i am blessed, thats for sure. no, i am not talking about the size of my manhood, although that is a blessing too. i am talking about my life and the way it keeps constantly evolving.
 
think about it for a moment.
 
three weeks ago i was just leaving palma. in the last three weeks, i have seen more of the greek islands than i ever imagined i would. infact, i have seen more greek islands than i ever imagined there were. I am now nestled in athens for a couple of days.
 
I have a chef that feeds me two gourmet meals a day, a stewie that washes and irons my clothes, a boss that pays me to be on the boat and in two days time, i am leaving for Genoa in Italy. When i get there, i will have a hotel all paid for while i fix the boat.  when i have fixed the boat, i will then sail on to many italian islands including corsica, sardinia and capri to name but a few,  before heading to the south of france for a few stops and finally ending the season back in italy , in san remo. if i stay on, we will then head to monaco for the boat show. AFter which time, my flights will be paid for me to go home, from wherever we finish to whichever destination i choose to call home.
 
On top of that, on my travels, i am constantly bumping in to new and interesting people from all around the world. In rhodes, i met the friendliest shopkeeper you would ever imagine and i have just left a BBQ that other crew members from other boats here in the harbour were having. They were all from the philipines and all, unbelievably friendly, happy to laugh and joke with me while they pour whiskey and coke faster than i can drink it.
 
if you believe all that you see on tv, you might think that the world is a bad place, well, i just dont dig that point of view. the world is just one big adventure waiting for you to get your shoes on and go out there looking for it.
 
choose life!!!

2 Comments | posted in Goose Freckles

11/05/2007

Athens , all in one piece!

By hairygoose
 
Made it an hour ago, all is well.
 
It has been a pretty sweet week or so, we have cruised the aegean and stopped off at plenty of small islands. the sort of islands that do not have cars on them or airports. the only way in and out is by boat, ferry, hydrofoil or the manic little water taxis that fly from island to island all day and all night long. The local taxis on the island are a donkey and cart – i kid you not !
 
the seas are always the deepest blue and crystal clear. I havent seen dolphins for a few days now but on the way into port we did cross paths with a huge moon fish, normally they would be white, but this one was black. a monster to say the least as it effortlessly crossed our bow with its top fin out of the water. if you didnt know better, you would say it was a shark!
 
Today, four of our guests have left us, leaving us with just the owner and his girlfriend. A lady from south america gave me a 100$ tip and a canadian dude gave me a 100 euro tip, i never expected that!
 
We have decided not to pull the boat out of the water here in athens, but instead, we are leaving for Genoa in Italy on sunday. That will take us around 5 days of non stop sailing and i doubt i will have internet connection again before next weekend. Of course, when i arrive there will be yet another contact number for me, one for italy, where i will be for the next three months. I always wanted to go to italy so maybe , maybe i may stay on! you never know, a hot fiery red headed latina babe could keep me away from the life i am enjoying – but then again, i doubt it very much, somebody please slap me for being such a twat !!!!!!
 
we are hoping to find a couple of extra crew for the trip, to run with just four people for five days solid is going to be very hard on us. I doubt they will find anyone though, the money on offer is not brilliant and i figure anyone that is any good will already have work for the summer.
 
so i have a day of rest maybe tomorrow,we are hooke dup to shore power now, so no generators to keep an eye on, i can take it relatively easy. If the boss leaves us today or tomorrow, we can have a lie in on sunday before leaving for italy.
 
I am looking forward to getting home to portugal and surfing with my old buddies, if they are still there. i havent been home now since new year and could stay with this boat if i wanted until the end of september. I am still waiting to hear from nariida about a role with them. if that happens, i will be in Mallorca or maybe the azores before november!
 
I have had a busy three weeks since leaving mallorca, i am tired and need to sleep and also missing being at home! it will all coem in good time i know, but i miss portugal all the same.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Authors footnote. i love these little things, nobody ever reads them, except, max, verity and the doctor! i can have a bit of a jab at whatever i like here and mostly it goes unnoticed. so before i sign off today, i would like to say, the women in greece are all fat and hairy! portuguese and mallorcan chicks rock – stick around for my take on italian women in about a weeks time – until then – fuck off !!
 
 
 
 

2 Comments | posted in Goose Freckles

07/05/2007

water inside the boat – not a good thing!!!

By hairygoose
 
Ah the pleasures of being an engineer!
 
we set sail on friday afternoon for an overnight anchor in rhodes, before planning to return to Rodos on saturday afternoon to collect two more guests.
 
as we tried to dock on saturday, we had a failure on our stern thruster. now, before you run off to find your anne summers catalogue to see what a stern thruster is, let me tell you. it is like a big underwater fan that drops out of the bottom of the boat and pushes the boat sideways, very important piece of kit when parking in tight spots.
 
while i was trying to rectify the fault, i noticed that we were taking on a lot of water through the thruster housing, i could slow the leak but not stop it, and to slow it meant that we could not use the thruster so, after a half hour thinking time, the captain suggested that we now head to athens ship yard, as they have a crane big enough to lift us out.
 
On saturday evening at 7pm, we pushed off from Rodos old town and would cruise non stop until midnight the following night, pumping the bilge as we went.
 
Of course technology would fail me again half way across the aegean. Mid afternoon on sunday, just when i was feeling realy tired , i spotted a family of dolphins heading straight towards us. The must have been around 20 of them and as they reached our bow, they turned and swam with us.
 
now this is where technology lets me down. I grabbed my camera to film these beauties, and within 5 seconds it was flat. OK so i had grabbed a couple of seconds of dolphins under my feet in glorious blue waters but then, i tried to transfer from my camera to laptop or ipod and no joy! so even though i got some footage, you can’t see it.
 
I have added a couple of shots though, 1 of a dolphin at my feet, the other is from around 3am on sunday morning while i was alone on deck , on watch.
 
enjoy them
 
i may now be stuck in athens for the best part of a month while we fix the thrusters and a few other items i would like to do while i am out of the water. tune in again later this week to see if i make it all the way without sinking the boat
 
 

1 Comment | posted in Goose Freckles

03/05/2007

can life always be so good?

By hairygoose
 
here i am, 9 at night on deck to pick up a wireless signal. Natalie Imbruglia is singing in my  ears, the wind is blowing in my hair, Rhodes old town has its lights ablaze and i get to talk to lineke at the same time.
 
sometimes life can be so sweet

1 Comment | posted in Goose Freckles

03/05/2007

it finally begins

By hairygoose
 
this afternoon ,or owner arrived with some guests.
 
thankfully, we are now planning to hit sail tomorrow morning instead of waiting here until saturday for two more guests to join. when you are completely minted like most big boat owners, you can change your mind as often as you like.
 
so this will be me for the next three months at least, roaming the med, in search of adventure.
 
i did solve the problem of the missing flip flop though. yesterday while in the wheel house using my computor, i saw a very friendly stray dog walking along with a flip flop. i went out and stopped him and recovered the flip flop. he mentioned to me that he had a compulsive disorder for this sort of thing and admitted stealing my other flip flop – all of this took part in my best language of greek dog
 
 
 
 
 
 
authors footnote – the author would like to issue a running fuck slap to another person who pissed him off today. life is just too short to let these mindless wankers bother us – beat them back into the gutter where they belong
 
 

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