It May Be Hard, But it is a Lot of FUN!

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March 26th, 2011
Anchored at Abreojos

It is reaching sunset and we are safely anchored at Abreojos. From the 5 mile radius, Brett began his screams of joy, pointing and dancing as he saw the faint outlines of crashing waves near shore. Apparently able to tap into his super-human vision, he exclaimed that there would indeed be surf for all. As our down-wind sail came to an abrupt stop (we simply ran out of wind) and coasted into the bay, we did see that in fact there were some nice peeling waves reaching around the point we are anchored next to. Then the wind gusted to 25 knots and has not let up.. this did not detour Brett our surf nazi, and he screamed, pointed, danced and did a few of his "hooo hooo hooo hooooooo! Boys! Would ja look at that!" Like a kid ready to head to Disney World, Brett sat with zinc war paint on his face, suited in his wetsuit, board in hand, bobbing around in the dinghy tethered to the stern by himself, as Colby was still getting ready. Cyrus, being the older and more reserved surfer, looked at the now howling wind and had flash-backs of being blown off of his board in warm Hawaiian waters by such a wind. To be blown off his board by an arctic blast into cold water seemed not to get him as giddy as Brett, so he decided to play Penguin. You know, when the penguins push the other penguins into the water to look for sharks? Then if they survive, the other penguins look at each other and say, "hey! looks like a great day for a swim!". This was Cyrus' technique as he got Jonny to do the upwind drop off in the dinghy which completely soaked him. Cyrus sat with a smile on his face, binoculars in hand, watching to see how the two penguins would fare. If he saw some epic surfing going on, he would be sure to join them. 1.5 hours later, Colby returns to do a lovely on-camera rant about the affects of Brett's contagious surf-excitement and how frustrating it was to sit in cold windy water in an attempt to catch a wave that was not really working during this high tide. Brett returned a half hour later not too happy about his "little buddy" leaving him, but as soon as he stood on deck, we heard another "WHOO HOOO! LOOK AT THAT! BIGGEST SET YET!" We all had to laugh. His spirit and contagious enthusiasm is most entertaining. A new quote was born. "Life with Brett.. it may be hard, but it is a lot of fun". Cyrus decided that applied to our work as well. After three sleepless nights, continuous sail changes, a leak in the watermaker and a non-stop schedule with some of the best sailing and wildlife available, we agree: "It may be hard, but it is a lot of fun".

We expect a restful night tonight and a great surf session followed by hopefully gray whales tomorrow. Should be "A lot of fun".

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