Initiation

Kieran has been patiently teaching me to sail in the dinghy and after just one lesson he decided to send me to shore with his computer on board for my first solo trip, it all went suprisingly well, I did a couple of accidental jibes, basically meaning I went round in a circle for a bit, but really it was a bit like the gymnastic finals in the olympics and I just put in those twiddly bits in the hope I might get some extra points for style, unfortunately there are no photo's to prove I made it, probably because Kieran was too busy gripping the boat rails in terror, though it has yet to be established whether he was more worried about the dinghy, the computer, or me.
My first lesson...



We are now in Opua, and work has been progressing rapidly in incredibly dusty earnest on the interior, basically we are living in chaos but we do now have a rather snazzy saloon table and Kieran has been scratching his head all day over some cupboard thing in the corner (something to do with tools and how good they are).

Our new french crew, a lovely french couple called Eduord and Stephanie, bravely offered to come aboard and help with the work before we left, their first trip out on the dinghy was in gale force winds with the usual rain and with Kieran's exemplary sailing skills atop the waves he ensured that we all arrived at Lilly soaked to the skin, the crew were well and truly initiated.

A while later I decided that I would again attempt to sail single handedly to shore in head winds, did a couple of unusual turns, was becalmed several times, visited a few boats a little bit closer than I'd intended, most of them I'd had no intention of going anywhere near anyway, til a gust got up and the mast snapped to the general concern of bemused onlookers who quite frankly must have wondered what the hell I was up to and where I was going anyway. It's a shame really seeing as the mast had only just been fixed after a similar incident a week ago, though I'm happy to say that on that occasion Kieran was on the tiller and not me. . .