Down Time

Our first charter finished on Tuesday, and were given the option of a 3 day weekend or Wednesday off, and then the weekend. We opted for a long weekend, but the next two days dragged, and after working 16 days straight everyone just wanted to chill.

Thursday afternoon was finally upon us, and we were all relieved, and looking forward to a good weekend. A crew watersports day on the jet ski’s was planned for Friday, then Saturday 5 of us were going to Castellane for white water rafting, Sunday was a chill day, and of course Thursday evening was drinks night, but not before we jumped off the sun deck (top deck of the boat). Al was first to jump, then Rob dived, and all eye’s were on me. I felt very anxious. Normally, I love doing stuff like this, and wouldn’t have hesitated, but since my accident I’m a bit more cautious. It took me about three minutes to pluck up the courage to jump. Perched over the rails, those three minutes seemed along time. My palms were sweating, and for the first time, I spared a thought to how other people must have felt when I’ve pushed them to do things out of their comfort zone. I knew the jump was easy, and I would enjoy it, but I couldn’t get my legs to thrust me over the edge. After a few attempts of standing up then sitting back down, I finally jumped. The jump took my breath away, and my eyes shut tight. When I surficed, I was relieved that I had down it, but a little shamed that it had taken so long, and I was so scared.    

The jet ski’s were great fun. It’s the first time, I’ve ridden one, and I was looking forward to it. The sea was a little choppy, so the conditions weren’t perfect, but it wasn’t long before I had it flat out. I took the Go Pro out, and it didn't disappoint – I love that thing. Al and I took it in turns to wear it, and when we watched back the footage, I was disheartened to see that he rode the jet ski far harder than I, and his footage was much more exciting – I only made a few tight turns and concentrated on opening her up on the straight, where Al constantly carved up the sea, and chucked the jet ski about. As the girls don’t have a license we had to ride on the jet ski’s with them. I didn’t think it was appropriate to hold around the waist our new stewardess, Pippa, so I held onto the handles behind where I was sitting. I didn’t enjoy the ride one bit, and held on for dear life. At one point we hit a passing boats wake. After jumping over the first wave of the wake, my hands flew off the handle as I flew off the seat. I thought I was a goner as we still had 2 more waves to come, but fortunately when I landed back on the seat my hands conveniently placed back on the handles. When we got back to the boat, I was so glad my time as passenger was over, and thought to myself that there is no way I would go on the back of a jet ski when a bloke is in control.  

The white water rafting was in Castellane, which is in the hills. Unfortunately it was cloudy at sea level, so we couldn’t enjoy the view until we were quite far up the mountain. Castellane, is a beautiful village. It’s fairly small but seemed to have everything you would need to live there and it felt very French. Our guide recommended that we would have more fun in kayaks, so we ended up with two, two man kayaks, and a single man. I’m really glad we took his advice because the river was pretty tame, and only had one tricky section.  I started off in the two man kayak with Pippa, then half way swapped with Rob into the single man. The kayaks were a lot of fun, and the five of us floated down the river constantly trying to spin each other and splash them with the paddle. 

I really love boat life at the moment. A big factor is that I have everything I want and need so close, and readily available to me. I only have to walk up stairs for the gym, jump off the back of the boat for a swim, or take a two minute tender drive ashore to go for a run. Rob, Jarred, and I, all work out together. We’re all very competitive, and push each other hard. Rob was nearly a professional rugby player, and Jarred has completed a half triathlon, so both guys are very fit. Presently we all have the fitness bug , and train non stop. I use the gym three times per week, then swim 2k, run 8k , and paddle board for 40 minutes on the days in between. The great thing is, I can do all this in the sun, with an incredible view - the run has to be my favourite as we run a long the coast road, but the view from the gym is also superb. Living on a superyacht also allows you do some cool things. One Sunday, Al, Rob and I had a beach day. We blew up an inflatable toy called the Aqua Glide, which is about 3m squared, and normally towed behind the tender, with people hanging on for dear life.  We loaded it with all our beach gear and, and swam it to shore. Al used a shackle and a line as an anchor, and we set up camp 10 metres or so from the beach. This was great because you get all the benefits of being at the beach, but don’t get sand everywhere, have your own space, and can chill in peace and comfort.