“p” places
i seem to have some kind of prophetic connections with places that starts with a letter "p." one of my favorite p places in the world is provincetown, ma. it is one of the gayest place on earth, but what i love the most is the juxtaposition of new york city tight-armani-jeans gay couples with salty cape cod fishermen with crusty beard, face wrinkly and dark with too much sun and a family history of hardship. there is nothing like it anywhere else. so ever since my buddy from high school ribby told me stories of his boyhood summers on a sailboat, i've desperately wanted to learn how to sail. to realize this dream i took myself out to p-town, pitched a tent at dune’s edge, and decided to take lessons at flyer's to satisfy my yearning. three days of two-hour lessons, one-on-one with an instructor out to the cool water of the outer cape.
despite the typical notion that the northeast coastline has notoriously rainy june, i had four full days of ample sunshine and breeze just perfect for sailing. my instructor is a young lad from Boston suburb, in between schools bound for boulder, co at the end of the season to join his brother and perhaps finish schooling. he was very down-to-earth and patient, answering all of my annoying questions and helping me learn basic techniques. i'm still weak on all the terms... but at least i am fully confident with figuring out the wind direction (i.e. upwind vs. downwind), getting luff out of the sail, and what to do with the main sail when tacking. steering can still be tricky for me sometimes. i still need some serious jibing practices. i also got to work with the jib when a pin from the boom snapped off and our main sail was down. that was kind of exciting. then a lot of mooring practices. that was also difficult. i always either underestimate or overestimate my speed and couldn't get my boat to go head-on into the buoy.
i loved learning about the wind and being intuitive yet experimental. i loved tasting salt on my lips and slight tenderness on my skin fron the sun. my hands were cut up from working with the robes and lines, and my butt hurt, but all of it was worth it when my boat picked up speed and started to heel. SO cool. i really hope to continue sailing. perhaps join berkeley marina and be out in san francisco bay with few friend who will also appreciate such adventure.
each day after my sailing lesson, i biked to my favorite beach in the whole wide world, the herring cove beach. luckily it was still pre-season so i didn't have to pay to get in or buy the season sticker (it's part of a national seashore). the second day was warm enough for me to swim, so i dove into water a few times. the water was certainly still frigid, but it was clear and free of seaweed (the water and the beach gets littered with seaweed as the season moves forward into the height of the summer). i noticed a major coastal erosion where the concrete driveway to the east part of the beach was completely emersed in the sand all broken up. i found out later that last winter storms were such that caused all that damage. i wondered if it had something to do with global climate change. anywho, the beach was also still free of tourists and annoying lesbians trying to show off their six-packs or their lovely wives, so i was happy to curl up on my grass matt claiming my space and my time away from daily hustle-and-bustle and social norms and expectations. BUT, note to self as i discovered later - at least make sure your sunscrean is slathered evenly because i ended up with nice hand shaped tan-lines of various sorts on my back.
in the evenings, i was lucky enough to be invited to all family events with my long-term friend from smith gracey and her partner monica (a real cop, btw). mon's dad and his wife were in town pretty much the same length i was, so naturally they invited me along with everything they decided to do in the evenings. since he and monica lived in okinawa, japan while back when he used to serve, they both kept saying things in japanese and it was just hilarious how similar they were. i mean, i have known mon for a while, and i always enjoyed how goofy and fun she is, but i never knew where it really came from. it was both nature and nurture! i also made friends with a couple of folks who used to work with monica on the ambulance, and i got to catch up with mandy who i had not seen since she got married and moved to canada. it was very nice to see all of them. AND last but not least, i finally got to ride in the back of mon's red-hot harley davidson. we got invited to dinner at the ambulance friends' house, and since monica's dad brought his bike (this is what i'm saying - they ARE the same people. they even look identical), we decided to ride. it was AWESOME. i has been a long time since i rode anything like this (a little moped in thailand DO NOT COUNT!!), and just the power of it all was so cool. despite the noise pollution and god-forbid the gas cost, i would love to own one someday. even if my mother threatens to kill me before it does.
last evening was spent at front street, the BEST restaurant in town. you all know how much i love food and how critical i can be. well this place gets 5 big golden stars from me. from service to menue to every piece and drop of food on the plate are just scrumtuous and extraordinary.
my vacation in p-town 2008 was truly relaxing, fun, and delicious. i will miss this place and the people in it. but i'm sure i will be back sometime soon.
despite the typical notion that the northeast coastline has notoriously rainy june, i had four full days of ample sunshine and breeze just perfect for sailing. my instructor is a young lad from Boston suburb, in between schools bound for boulder, co at the end of the season to join his brother and perhaps finish schooling. he was very down-to-earth and patient, answering all of my annoying questions and helping me learn basic techniques. i'm still weak on all the terms... but at least i am fully confident with figuring out the wind direction (i.e. upwind vs. downwind), getting luff out of the sail, and what to do with the main sail when tacking. steering can still be tricky for me sometimes. i still need some serious jibing practices. i also got to work with the jib when a pin from the boom snapped off and our main sail was down. that was kind of exciting. then a lot of mooring practices. that was also difficult. i always either underestimate or overestimate my speed and couldn't get my boat to go head-on into the buoy.
i loved learning about the wind and being intuitive yet experimental. i loved tasting salt on my lips and slight tenderness on my skin fron the sun. my hands were cut up from working with the robes and lines, and my butt hurt, but all of it was worth it when my boat picked up speed and started to heel. SO cool. i really hope to continue sailing. perhaps join berkeley marina and be out in san francisco bay with few friend who will also appreciate such adventure.
each day after my sailing lesson, i biked to my favorite beach in the whole wide world, the herring cove beach. luckily it was still pre-season so i didn't have to pay to get in or buy the season sticker (it's part of a national seashore). the second day was warm enough for me to swim, so i dove into water a few times. the water was certainly still frigid, but it was clear and free of seaweed (the water and the beach gets littered with seaweed as the season moves forward into the height of the summer). i noticed a major coastal erosion where the concrete driveway to the east part of the beach was completely emersed in the sand all broken up. i found out later that last winter storms were such that caused all that damage. i wondered if it had something to do with global climate change. anywho, the beach was also still free of tourists and annoying lesbians trying to show off their six-packs or their lovely wives, so i was happy to curl up on my grass matt claiming my space and my time away from daily hustle-and-bustle and social norms and expectations. BUT, note to self as i discovered later - at least make sure your sunscrean is slathered evenly because i ended up with nice hand shaped tan-lines of various sorts on my back.
in the evenings, i was lucky enough to be invited to all family events with my long-term friend from smith gracey and her partner monica (a real cop, btw). mon's dad and his wife were in town pretty much the same length i was, so naturally they invited me along with everything they decided to do in the evenings. since he and monica lived in okinawa, japan while back when he used to serve, they both kept saying things in japanese and it was just hilarious how similar they were. i mean, i have known mon for a while, and i always enjoyed how goofy and fun she is, but i never knew where it really came from. it was both nature and nurture! i also made friends with a couple of folks who used to work with monica on the ambulance, and i got to catch up with mandy who i had not seen since she got married and moved to canada. it was very nice to see all of them. AND last but not least, i finally got to ride in the back of mon's red-hot harley davidson. we got invited to dinner at the ambulance friends' house, and since monica's dad brought his bike (this is what i'm saying - they ARE the same people. they even look identical), we decided to ride. it was AWESOME. i has been a long time since i rode anything like this (a little moped in thailand DO NOT COUNT!!), and just the power of it all was so cool. despite the noise pollution and god-forbid the gas cost, i would love to own one someday. even if my mother threatens to kill me before it does.
last evening was spent at front street, the BEST restaurant in town. you all know how much i love food and how critical i can be. well this place gets 5 big golden stars from me. from service to menue to every piece and drop of food on the plate are just scrumtuous and extraordinary.
my vacation in p-town 2008 was truly relaxing, fun, and delicious. i will miss this place and the people in it. but i'm sure i will be back sometime soon.
posted by rikitikitembo at 3:40 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home