January 16, 2008

Racing Sequester
Yesterday was a great day. We sailed Sequester in the second race of the yacht club season, and as crew we had 4 young women who are World Teach teachers. They are great girls and had very little sailing experience, so we had fun teaching them all about the boat. They each got a chance to steer and haul in sheets, and even though we didn’t apply ourselves to serious racing, we came in third out of 5 boats! We all had such a good time that we’ve decided to become a permanent crew for the rest of the season. I think there are 3 more races (one a month), and the last race of the season is the Coconut Cup Regatta, which involves not only the yachties, but the locals with their sailing proas. They still build and sail the traditional proas of the Pacific here, and these things are really neat. A proa has one mail hull and one float hull. Even though it has 2 hulls it is not a catamaran; cats have 2 identical hulls, while the proas have 2 different hulls. In the Pacific proas the float hull is always kept to windward and they tack by shifting the sail from fore to aft on the main hull. The main hull has 2 pointy ends, so can sail in either direction. It is hard to imagine without a picture, so we will try to get some good ones to send on. Anyway, these boats are REALLY fast, so it should be a lot of fun to see them come around the race course and we’ll have opportunities to get some photos. I have started volunteering one day a week at a local kindergarten (kindy), just because I love being around little ones. These kids are so cute and well behaved and I’m teaching them a few English words, while they are teaching me some Marshallese. Tomorrow I’ll be signing up to take a college course in the Marshallese language. And I just found out about a handicrafts course starting in February. The Marshallese women are known for their handicrafts, mostly woven mats, wall hanging, bags, and jewelry. I’ll also be visiting the hospital this week to find out about work. Ted is working on a power boat, doing fiberglass and epoxy work today. So we are settling into life here in Majuro and still having a good time. Karen