Those Waves Look A Little Large

Where was I? Oh yes, my keyboard has dried out nicely except for the Z key for some reason, which means that this is the only time the word Zzyzx will occur in this entry.
After the Om gig, the only possible thing to do next was to sleep. For a considerable amount of time. Which was nice. I could have done with another 24 hours or so's kip, but it was not to be, for I was going sailing round Mallorca with my folks. I don't mean on a nice big boat with a crew and a bar and all that stuff though. Oh no. I mean sailing as in pulling wet heavy ropes till yr skin falls off, trying to balance on a wet deck at angles the human inner ear is not particularly accustomed to, swallowing gallons of seawater and shouting fuck a lot. In short, proper sailing. Which is, in the words of Miles, Big Fun. Fucking hard work too, especially when it gets rough. Most days it was beautiful, just enough wind to work up a leisurely speed, the sun blazing down and selections from the Chess back catalogue blaring out of the speakers (this fucking boat had waterproof ones on deck - wasn't expecting that), the only interruption being the Balearic shipping forecast, which is always at least two hours late, and the occaisional horn or radio blast from another boat. Blissful.
That is until the moment the sea went black. Several miles out from the coast and not particularly near any anchorages sailing south east from Palma the weather flipped it's lid. The sky went from deep summer blue to looking like a slab of lead, the wind picked up and started to swirl, and it started to bucket down. Oh shit. I've done some sailing in my time, but never in anything like a force 7 wind with a crew of two. Dear Holy Fucking Shit. Getting the mainsail down in that so we could turn the engine on would have to rank as one of the most downright fucking terrifying things I have ever done. The hull of the boat was four foot out of the water at it's highest point. Unfortunately the waves were about fourteen foot. All i could think about was staying upright and getting the bloody sail down. It was only after we got them down and the engine on that I realised just how fucking scared I was up there, and how much of a fucking rush it is doing something like that. No time to think, not even time to be frightened while it's happening, no choice in the matter, just fucking do it. Moments like that don't really happen that often and I'm not really sure I'd want them more frequently, but it was a feeling which will stay with me for a long time to come. As will Palma, a city which kicks serious arse...

TBC