December 15, 2007

Social Life in Majuro
Our lives have become so busy that we need a calendar to keep track of it all! Yesterday was the first boat race of the season and we chose to crew on another boat rather than sail Sequester. It is nice to sail on someone else's boat for a change. Trevor and Jan are New Zealanders and have a Kiwi-designed 42-foot steel monohull. We've been sailing with them off and on for the past couple of months and have been very impressed with how their boat performs at sea. We had a grand day of racing. The weather cooperated beautifully, with sunny skies and about 15 knots of wind. Nine of the cruising boats participated, with many others of us acting as crew. There were also a number of locals crewing who just wanted a day out on the water. All boats received a prize at the awards' ceremony; the best prize being a 55-gallon drum of diesel fuel. I won a haircut (!?) and quickly traded it for a movie pass!
We've been catching up with friends we haven't seen in awhile and we've attended a couple of group dinners to meet new friends. We had a belated Thanksgiving dinner with Dave and Linda on Irish Melody. The Australian Navy is hosting a Christmas party next Sunday at their compound. That is supposed to be the event of the season! And on Christmas day all the boats are getting together for a pot-luck picnic.Many boats will be moving on after the holidays, some going to Micronesia and on to Indonesia or the Philippines. Others will stay here until March and then sail back down to the southern tropics and on to New Zealand or Australia. In the summer season (the usual northern hemisphere summer) there are only a few boats left here, as opposed to the 30 or so boats here now. So we socialize while we can before we all split up to go different directions. Karen