Wednesday night I hosted a Super Mario Kart invitational. I was a little nervous when not many had showed up on time (and I had all the food ready), but such is the Hawaiian way. There were 9 competitors in all and Rick walked away with the trophy. It was a lot of fun, though. I think there will be a repeat sometime in the near future.
Thursday was quite the day. After work I headed to go sailboat racing with the Nawiliwili Yacht Club as usual. It was really windy that day--20 or 25 knots--so they gave us a long race. We were frazzled from the start since our captain misplaced the proper head sail and had to run home to find it. We were on the water mere minutes before the race started. In the harbor, we were relatively safe. It was windy but manageable. As we headed out of the harbor to the outer buoy, the race changed completely. Our captain said our goal was to survive. I wasn't sure if he was kidding or not until we hit the open water. Boats are amazing--I have no idea how it kept righting itself as the waves smashed against it. We were getting drenched from the spray as the boat's bow raised and plunged against the waves. Actually being in the race caused problems of its own as we had to make sure gusts of wind wouldn't push us into other boats. On our first trip out to the buoy, as we're scrambling around a wet deck, we saw a 6-7 foot shark off our starboard. I had never seen a shark in its natural habitat before.
As we headed back into the harbor we rode the surf in. I felt ok, a little shaken, and I asked our helmsman Bonnie what the course called for next. We still had to head out to the same outer buoy twice more. While in the harbor and working the foredeck, I missed the turn and ended up on the downside clinging on to ropes to keep my footing on the wet deck. I quickly learned I had to move quickly to stay on the high side to keep on board. Our second trip out to the buoy we decided to take the gennaker (pretty head sail) off of the deck and put it in the hull. Sounds relatively easy, and it would have been if it weren't so windy. The sail was soaked and the wind and waves were so high we had to hand it in a chain so the sail wouldn't be blown and we wouldn't be pitched off. It was in this leg we got banged up--two bloody knees. It was also in this leg where we could have been seriously hurt as the main sail jibed from high to low with the pitch of the boat, essentially bringing a metal pole swinging to the downside of the boat right at head level. Luckily we were all watching closely and were down and the mast didn't sustain any damage (apparently a maneuver like that can snap a mast). Scary though. The last leg was fine. By this time we were all used to the erratic winds and waves and had our salt legs. When I got off the boat I was completely drenched and cold from the wind, bruised, and a little shaken. I still can't believe we walked away with only 2 bloody knees and minor bruises.
I got home as quickly as I could and headed to Kaumakani (aka Dirt Town) to a farewell party for a going-away party for Yara. It was really interesting--Kaumakani is a Filipino plantation village, so there were only a handful of haoles there. There was karaoke and Mahjong and some card game--they play for serious money. Lots of Filipino food as well. I knew most everyone there from work and tried to learn their games--they said I was welcomed back any time to play, though I know they just want me to play so they can win my money.
Friday both Kristin and Rick were home sick from work (though somehow I am still healthy), so it was an easy day. Saturday I spent the day golfing at the Mokihana Course as a fundraiser for Kauai Nurses.
A little background on me and golfing: I don't do it. In reality, I have golfed once (yes, once) before yesterday and somehow I don't think the Northwood Golf and Country Club holds a candle to Mokihana.
Mokihana rates start at $80, and that's if you're a guest at the Marriott or a 'twilight' golfer. The dress code calls for a collared shirt and no jeans. In fact, the score card states that only clothes specifically designed for golfing may be worn on the course. Yeah, this was far too classy for me...
But it was pretty. And pretty fun. I paid $40 or so to golf the 18 holes (Pioneer sponsored the other half of the bill--we had 8 golfers) and borrowed some clubs from a co-worker. Our team was pretty bad, but we had fun. There was a tournament official who came and shot some holes for us (and we wrote his scores down) and at one point another official picked up our ball and threw it down the green... They wanted to keep us going. It was best ball, so even if we had one really good person it would work out ok. We had fun, but 18 holes was just too much. We ended up writing down scores for the last 3 holes and went to eat early. Or at least that was the plan. Turns out we were the first ones done and had to wait for everyone else to finish.
The course was at the Marriott, one of the nicest hotels on the island, and connected with Kauai Lagoons which, to my understanding, is a reality area where there are really expensive and fancy condominiums. I had to use the restroom in the Lagoons main office, and I had to snap a picture of the pillars and the pool that was outside--I don't quite understand since it's not attached to the hotel. Very peaceful, though. 
1 comment:
Too bad you're not having any fun over there and not meeting anybody- ha, ha!! My fun this weekend consisted of cleaning the house, doing laundry, going to baseball games, working in the yard, and then game night with the kids tonight. But it was all good.
Hope you have a great week! C.
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