British Sailors

On Thursday I saw a huge ship sailing towards the island, and I said to myself, “I have to go down to the harbor and make friends with the people on that boat.” So later that afternoon I walked down to the marina and saw a British flag on one of the 3 masts. There were a bunch of people in their 20s who I started to talk to. It turns out the boat, “Tenacious”, is for charity and has a crew of 50. Everyone on the boat participates in sailing, despite the fact that some of them were disabled.

After talking for a bit, I asked for a tour of the boat. I had to get permission from the captain, but when he came out, he was holding a beer and was trying to speak Spanish to me. He offered me a drink, but I kind of ignored him, and carried on with trying to get a tour. They let me on and it was really awesome being on such a big boat. There were guardrails for the blind and a speaking navigating system, too. Rich, who gave me the tour, told me that earlier that day they hoisted a blind 80 year old man and also someone who is in a wheelchair up the mast.

The younger people asked me if I could give them a tour of the town later that night. I told them how to get to the main road, and so at 8:00 that night I met a few of them at the basketball court. They already had a table at an outdoor bar/restaurant and there were about 10 other sailors there, too. It was so fun to be with 15 crazy drinking Brits. I had a smashing good time!

They’re here for another night, and then tomorrow they head off to Gran Canaria (another island). Some of them will get off there and fly home, while others will continue for 3 weeks to the Caribbean. I hope I run into them tonight…it won’t be too hard since the town is so small and they are all so loud!