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| entry created: Sunday 27 June 2010, 3:23am (NZ time) | |
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| Location: Sicily, Italy |
| Local time: Friday, 10:30pm |
| Music: |
 Yeah yeah I know. Once again I've left it many months before updating the site. Apologies, but life is busy and motivation somewhat lacking. But as we're currently anchored off the cliffy south-east coast of Sicily, awaiting a delivery of authentic local pizzas by water taxi, I thought I'd steal a few moments to get this organised.A couple months ago I packed up my drum kit, pulled my one-handed handstand photos off the wall, and moved out of my apartment in central Antibes. The summer yachting season was beginning and thus it was time to move back aboard the boat. There goes my personal space! But that's the price of yachting. And on the bright side, I'm saving a bunch of cash in rent, food etc. And I'll be able to get an apartment again in Sept/Oct. This will be a long trip for our boat and six crew, cruising the Adriatic sea. From our home base in France, it's 2200km to our first destination of Venice. We'll be gone for a couple months, and I'll be missing my friends, music, motorbike, summer parties, festivals and BBQs, but hey... again, that's the price of yachting. Okay, pizza's arrived. Time to go eat on the top deck, with Sicily providing a twilight backdrop. It's not all that bad.  I saw my first snow on a superyacht ever in early February. Quite a novelty, as I've only ever worked on these boats in tropical places.  We had some rough weather this winter... including waves crashing over the sea wall onto our dock, which ended up flooding (and washing my flip-flops away).  The boat in the yard a month ago, getting the antifouling re-sprayed, props cleaned etc.  The huge, heavy props being man-handled into place. It took 5 of us.  Octopus, 126m, the world's 9th largest superyacht, owned by Microsoft CEO Paul Allen. Two helicopters. Two submarines. And no bank loan.  That's a 19m (63ft) tender, docked inside. The aft section of Octopus drops down, and they simply drive the smaller boat in.  Picking up my mail. Who needs a car right?  A friend, Tanya, pours us some rosé wine from the 3L bottle. I'd joined the group later, but by the end of the day, 9 bottles had been consumed. Ridiculous yachties with ridiculous thirsts and too much disposable income.  Hilarity ensues.  I made some new friends, who were filming a motorbike stunt movie.  These guys are amazing.   Motorcycle break-dancing.   Fuel for both man and machine.  Hardcore.  We were conveniently sea-trialling the boat during the annual classic yacht regatta Les Voiles d'Antibes. A nice opportunity to test my new DSLR camera.    The Port of Antibes. Europe's largest marina, and the superyacht centre for the Mediterranean.  Antibes old town.  Our tender. Normally it's me driving, but I let the engineer have a go that day. The Captain is sitting in the front, and our two stewardesses in the back.  I was in London last weekend, catching up with my friend Rachel and cousin Mark. The hotel was right in the center, near Picadilly. This photo begged to be taken.  The London Underground. Mind the gap.  The football world cup was on, and England were playing. All sorts of people were out and about.  Apartments on the Thames River.  The world famous Harrods department store.  Apparently creams can fix anything these days. |
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