Bunny Skeletons

My sister Caz and I are responsible for the deaths of a variety of rodents, a family of love-birds and possibly a couple of fish. We did not kill the poor creatures intentionally, but rather by means of what is legally known as neglect starvation. So it was kind of involuntary mouseslaughter rather that outright murder. While we still feel daily the guilt of this pointless loss of pet-life, there is one redeeming factor to our actions that I would like to point out. When we would eventually realise what that nagging voice was in the back of our 8-year-old minds; the voice trying urgently to remind us of a certain forgotten responsibility, we would rush outside to the huge pet cage at the back of our garden (I think it's called an averie) and perform what I would now like to term as a rescue-feed. A rescue feed was an attempt to rescue said pets with a sudden and unexpected (although I would guess much hoped for) feeding. Of course, no matter how much lettuce you throw at a bunny skeleton, it will forever remain an ex-bunny. My hope for my blog however is that, with this rescue-feed- a quick little story and a photo or two, I will be able to prevent it from moving into the other-worldly realm of unfinished-due-to-dwindling-interest-Rory-projects. So there you go.





9 April, Chillax

My weekend off. The only one I'll get for the next four and a half weeks, and the only one I've had for the past two weeks. Apparently becoming a champion skipper doesn't allow for time off. One has  to do what one has to do; and if sailing the oceans and being generally worthy of a "based-on-a-true-story-Hollywood-movie-with-Collin-Farrel-in-the-starring-role-as-me" is what I have to do then I will gladly sacrifice my weekends.

So for the next two days its just strolling around with my landsickness (the awesome feeling of still being at sea when you're on land). But enough about me. Let me tell you what I've been doing this past week on the Competent Crew module of my course:

Monday



sitting at the bow of Mr. B

Monday morning started with us meeting our captain Charlie (23yrs), a super chilled guy, and the rest of my crew; Steve the wealthy pom (36ish), Kyle the Ginger Ninja and my mate for the rest of my course (25yrs), and Ettiene (17yrs)- a very interesting character who surprised us intermittently with fresh insights into his RoaldDahlesque personality (although generally a cool kid all things considered). 

My Crew

We were shown our bunks, and started off with some basics like coiling ropes and docking, which takes some practise- a fact that was made clear to us when we crashed Mr. B (our training yacht) bow first into the dock, giving him a little more character with a bump on his nose. We then motored out into Table Bay to have a splash-about for an hour or two. The best part of leaving the docks is that both V&A Waterfront bridges are lifted for us to pass under when we leave.  This means that all tourists, shoppers, etc. have to stand to the side of the bridges and watch us, with a hundred envious eyes, as the 5 of us cruise by. A few take pictures, we give the royal wave and I try to look as yachty as possible for any betties that may be looking on (according to Captain Charlie chicks dig sailors).



My Bunk

Tuesday

Tuesday morning started with a lesson in cool sailor knots and the preparation and hoisting of sails. We then left harbour and headed for Houtbay, learning how to tack (a method used for sailing into the wind) on the way. Also found out that it is extremely hard to pee at sea. The sea life on the way was awesome. On this trip alone we spotted at least 100 seals, about 5 Southern Right Wales and any number of sea birds.We cruised into Houtbay during sunset with Kyle and I standing at the shrouds* watching hundreds of box jellyfish float by.

*The shrouds are the lines on the starboard and port sides that hold the mast in place. You can see them in the photo below.

View of "The Twelve Apostles" on the way to Houtbay

Wednesday

Captain Charlie at the helm

Woke on Wednesday morning with a bowl of Corn Flakes and a cup of coffee on deck and watched the box jellies (who had multiplied into millions over night) getting ready for their day of jellyfishing about; some of them having already had their breakfasts of tiny fish who were caught in their bells with the look of utter surprise on their tiny fish faces.

We started the lessons in the bay learning how to reef* the mainsail and how to jibe (a pretty nerve wracking maneuver for sailing downwind), occassionaly pushing Mr. B right over to the point where the water was coming over the edge of the deck. After Steve changed his pants we headed out to sea into a beautiful blue sky with power winds blowing astern. With the winds at our backs we headed back to Table Bay with the Twelve Apostles off our starboard beam** and the usual sea life all around us as well as a couple of blomming*** penguins.

Ettiene puked his guts out the entire way back (poor guy) insisting, in his vomity state, on doing the very opposite of the sound anti-seasick advice given by all. The rest of us just blommed on deck with our sunglasses on like rich men cruising the Med. Steve continued to offer Ettiene a variety of greasy food.

*Reefing is how you reduce the size of the sails in strong winds so that you prevent the sails from tearing but still ensure that you have enough power to sail.
**Starboard refers to the right hand side of the ship and beam refers to anything at 90 degrees to the side of the boat.
***Blomming=chilling. Picture slouching into an armchair. Maybe with like a martini in one hand. That's blomming.

Thursday

Sailing cancelled for the day. The winds outside of the bay were gusting over 40knots, a speed unsafe for beginners sailing. Very chilled day- had coffee at Primi, Bought a new pair of cheap polarized sunglasses, chilled on the boat, ate some smoked snoek from Steve, generally sloped about. Charlie tought us a few things onboard. Ettiene pulled something from his nose. Charlie asked him not to put it on the bunk seats. Ettiene told him it that it was just hairs. Charlie didn't say anything. Laughed at some other stuff Ettiene did.




Red Indian

 Friday

We headed out to Robin Island for the day with the wind behind us most of the way there. There were tons of spinner dolphins around feeding off huge baitballs (large shoals of fish) that were all over Table Bay. A couple of them left the bait balls and played around our boat for about 45 minutes, weaving in and out from under our bow.




Spinner Dolphins

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We turned around once we had passed Robin Island and returned to the bay tacking accross the wind most of the way back, travelling at a speed of anywhere between 6 and 9 knots (a fun sailing speed for a little training yacht), each of us taking a turn at the helm giving the order to tack when the time was right.

Practised anchoring once we were back in the protection of the bay. Discussing our favorite drinks- Kyle and I said we quite liked Southern Comfort and Lime, Steve said he just liked a simple Johnnie walker black, etc. Ettiene reckoned that one of his best drinks was a mixture of cough mixture, jelly tots, vodka and ice. Strange kid. I then asked kyle about the phenomenon of the "ginger couple" (i.e. the fact that you never see two gingers dating), Steve made a dirty joke about gingers, and everyone had a good chuckle... except for me cause I don't laugh at dirty jokes ever.

Said goodbye to Steve and Ettiene. They were just here for the Competent Crew module of the course. Kind of going to miss them. They both grew on me tremendously. Now it's off to Langebaan for Kyle and I for the Day Skipper module of our course.

The end of this entry of my blog with a photo of the beautiful yacht "Tosca". Why not.

Missed Photo Opportunities

There really is a lot of cool photos that I can take here in Kaapstad. However, due to several external influences I am not always able to do so. I will eventually have photos up, but for all the times that I have missed some cool photo opportunities I am simply going to update this post. So here are some of those Would-have-been-cool-photos:

1. The supersize grape-eating dog at st. Johns. Okay, I lie...here he is. He eats grapes and anything you pretend is food. He's gigantic in real life. You just can't see here cause everything in this room was built in 2 is to 1 scale. fact.

2. Me and my team entering the blazing inferno at the firefighting course.
3. Coloured hobo beach slap at the V&A Waterfront.
4. Supersize daddy seal floating along at the V&A Waterfront.
5. Me playing the casualty for our practical first-aid exam (including semi-realistic arm wound, head wound, amputated arm, intestines hanging from my abdominal cavity, broken neck and shin bone sticking from the front of my leg).
6. Hout Bay Yacht Club and the Houtbay jellies.
7. Crazy amounts of sea life.

1 April, First Aid and Where I Live

I received my certificate today for "elementary first aid at sea" which, contrary to what you probably may think, means I can basically do anything a doctor can do. APRIL FOOLS! It doesn't mean that. But it does mean that I can aid in saving lives at sea should I be required to do so, which I think is pretty cool. However, as fun as it was for me, explaining the last two days of the course probably won't make for good reading. But I will give you a brief idea of the skills I now awesomely posses in the sentence after this one. I can bring a person back to life using CPR, deal with broken necks, spot the signs of heart attack, treat broken bones, treat burns, spot the signs of shock, etc.

With regards to where I am staying right now; it's pretty sweet. For this part of my course- the STCW '95 (standards of training for certified watchkeepers), I am staying at st. John's Lodge in an area of Capetown called Greenpoint. St. John's is a backpackers. While it may not exactly be "fine dining" it really is a lot of fun. Almost daily there are new foreigners coming in and I've made quite a few friends here. The lodge is sandwiched between Signal Hill (the hill right next to table mountain) at the back and the main road of Greenpoint, the stadium and V&A Waterfront at the front (It's about a 15 minute walk to the V&A waterfront.

What's really cool about the last and next two days of the course is that we walk to the STCW '95 building every morning and walk home every afternoon. It's about a 35 minute walk towards the city center but the weather, the view and the surroundings are beautiful; plus it's really great to get the exercise in the morning. Greenpoint is quite a trendy area so the buildings and shops along the way are really great. It almost has a European feel about it... a certain...what is the word...Je ne se quoi! On the way home every day, with the mountain (insert nostalgic Capetonian accent here) looming over us we stop at this super-uber-size Spar and get dinner, and a few beers for the night.

Anyway, I start my "Search and Rescue at sea" module tomorrow and finish it on Sunday. And then after that its onto the boat:):):):):) Can't wait. Still waiting for a computer that doesn't see my iPhone as a virus so that I can download some photo's. Until then... boom chica waah wah!

30 March, Fire Fighting

Okay so I know that it's taken me 4 days to get my first entry (please note that this is my second entry, my first one is the other one :) ) up but a combination of tiredness, computer hogs, spazzy computer and at least 32 other very important factors are to blame. In fact any second now a very angry looking German girl is going to barge in here and tell me it is her turn. She's new at the hostel, so I think that's very cheeky of her! But alas she is right. So for the sake of making sure that I do not fall behind on my blogging responsibilities I am going to make a quick entry about what has gone on in the last few days, carefully organized under very clever headings.

Missed Photo Opportunities

1. Coloured hobo fight at V&A water front.
2. Super size daddy seal swimming at V & A waterfront.
3. Me dressed in super cool fire fighting equipment.
4. The awesome view along the beachfront.
5. My foreign friends (Italy, Lebanon, Finland, Belgium, etc.)

Firefighting

So the first week of my course is called the STCW '95. It is the standard basic safety course that everyone around the world is required to do if they are going to be working offshore. So for the past three days I've been doing firefighting and let me just say this... AAAAAHHHHHHH! Man it's so much fun. I don't have time so let me just explain the main simulation we did yesterday.

So they have these containers stacked to two stories high and completely sealed of. Inside the containers they start 3 fires. The containers get so hot that the boots of the support team (who stand on the first storey to feed you the hose) melt and if water touches the container it immediately starts to boil. So basically this contraption becomes like an oven. Now you and your team of 5 or 6, all fully dressed in proper fire-retardant fire-fighting equipment, with breathing apparatus, have to enter from the very top with the fire fighting hose and put out all the fires. The floor on which you are kneeling when you are in there is approx 100 degrees celsius and you cannot see anything apart from the man in front of you. It was crazy!!! One guy quite twice because he couldn't handle it.

Last Notes

1. Got some photos but can't upload due to spazy computer:( Will upload later.
2. Will give more details of my hostel and the area I'm staying (fantastic as they say in the classics).
3. Angry German here now have to leave.
4. Love you all;)

26 March, Packing

So why "The Pigeon"? There is a book that sits high on my book shelf where, to the mind of anyone with the slightest hint of OCD, it is safest from fishmoths and book-thieving-hands. Were I given the choice of reading only three books for the rest of my life, chances are that this would be one of them (only the Bible and Lord of the Rings in my mind out rank it...I think). This book is the autobiography of the youngest person to sail single handed around the world- a certain Robin Lee Graham. In 1965, at age 16, Graham started his epic voyage around the world on a 24-foot sloop. The name of this sloop, the namesake for Grahams book, was "Dove".

Well you may now see the reason behind my chosen blog title but may still be thinking, "We understand the link with your thirdish favorite book but there are some obvious flaws in your choice of blog title. One; it's "Dove" not "The Dove". Two; you don't know what a sloop is (hypocrites). Three; you don't know how to sail. Four; your little adventure can't compare to Graham's epic voyage." Your first and second concerns are easy to negate. Firstly, the title "The Pigeon" just sounds better than "Pigeon". Secondly, I do know what a sloop is. Addressing your last two concerns is going to take some extra effort, but in doing so I think I'll give you some insight into why I have chosen to go on this little adventure.

For the most part my family and closest friends need no explanation. But, while everyone has been encouraging I have heard that one or two people can't understand what makes me want to do this. So I think that a brief explanation would help them out but would also be pretty cool for the start of my blog. Let me say first that really there are no solid reasons. It is more a part of who I am than anything else. I am not running away from anything (what is there to run away from?) nor am I trying to "find myself". So what is it? In a word... Adventure:)

I've grown up with a Dad (and a family actually) who is very adventurous. While other dads were watching rugby or playing golf my dad was doing some "foolish" thing with us. Okay so maybe we've never climbed Kilimanjaro or crossed the Atlantic but you can bet your bottom dollar that were we given half the chance (double the fitness, double the cash, half the busyness) we'd be on it like a bonnet. But the memories I have are of doing things, even little things, that have instilled a sense of adventure and wonder in me. From our epic 5 day hike in the berg, to fishing at Pine Lake Sun, to breaking into Modderfontein Farm to ride our bikes (and getting bust), to surfing Indonesia, to diving Silvia Reef in Mozambique, to epic paintball battles, to swimming in Frozen rivers, to skiing weekends at the dam, to deep sea fishing for Barracuda, to dog poo fights in the garden, etc, etc, etc.

And for me I can't think of any bigger adventure than an adventure at sea.Yes, it's not quite like Graham's epic journey, but in my mind its a way to start my own epic adventures. One of my favorite quotes is from the author John Eldredge; a quote which says in a few words everything written above.

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and do that because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
Wild At Heart, John Eldredge