Boulder to London

Since I’ve been in Chi-town all summer, I haven’t really been able to do much sailing around the UK. To try and fit a few trips in before the season ends, I decided to book a cross-channel trip with First Class Sailing, the outfit that I’ve done most of my coursework with. I was a bit apprehensive about the trip as it is getting a bit late in the year and there is nothing that I would like less than to spend a full weekend freezing my ass off in the cockpit of a 36 sailboat whilst dodging ships and hoping not to get lost on the 80 mile trip. To top it all off, it’s always a risk taking a weekend trip in close quarters with four to six people that you’ve never met.

To my surprise, all of my fears and hesitations were for nothing. To start with, the weather on Friday was fabulous with clear blue skies and a warm 55 or 60 degrees F. I made it to the marina around 7 and enjoyed a beer and a burger with the skipper and one of the others whilst waiting for the other two. Eventually the other two arrived and we shoved off around 9PM for the trip south. The wind pretty light, so we hoisted the main sail and motor-sailed out through the needles around the west end of the Isle of Wight to take advantage of the tide. Unfortunately the wind never picked up and we ended up motoring the entire evening on auto-pilot with 3 hour rotating watches. I had the 1AM to 4AM watch which was absolutely beautiful with clear skies and a late summer meteor shower.

We arrived in Cherbourg about 11AM the next day without incident and proceeded to enjoy another full day of clear skies and warm temperatures (I had jeans and a t-shirt on, but we saw a group of guys out wake boarding). We walked into town to try and find some Oysters and were told by a local that you could go to a local oyster shop, have the oysters prepared and then take them to a bar where you could enjoy them with a bottle of wine. I was a bit skeptical, but the Italian guy on the trip, who spoke enough French, was convinced we could make it work. He went into the shop and ordered three dozen orders that were brought to us on a large platter, layered with seaweed for 12 euros. The oysters were fabulous and the pub we found had a great open patio where we could sit and relax in the sun. We followed the oysters up with a fabulous french dinner before retiring back to the boat for a few hours sleep prior to the midnight departure.

Unlike the way there, the sailing back was incredible. We sailed the entire way on a close reach with SW winds that probably averaged 18 knots. This allowed a boat speed of 6 to 8 knots the entire way and a speedy 12 hour trip back.

I’m back in CO for a few days on my way back to London.  What would normally be a beautiful sunny Colorado day has been transformed by the heavy cloud of smoke hanging over the town and along the mountains.  The fire started Monday and has burned over 7,000 acres and destroyed almost 100 structures by the latest count.  With any luck, the wind will stay calm and the fire fighters will have a chance at containing this massive blaze.  My heart and thoughts go out to everyone impacted by the fire.

See USA Today Article

A good friend of mine recommended a book a few months ago that I just got around to buying before my recent flight from Chicago to Helena.  The book is called ‘Born to Run’ by Christopher McDougall and if you’re a runner, it is a must read.  The premise of the book is that humans have evolved to be superior distance runners and that a lot of what we (or at least I) have been told by doctors, shoe sales people and other runners could be completely wrong.  We’ll see if it works for me, but I gave it my first try today by taking the custom $350 orthotics out of my $100 running shoes to see if I could get the persistent pain in my left foot / ankle to go away.  No I didn’t replace the orthotics with the factory footbed…instead I ran my 5 miles with the least support possible!  I wouldn’t have never believed it, but it’s worth a try…nothing else has worked and there are enough examples in the book to make me believe that this is more fact than theory including some from personal experience.  For example, when I was marathon training, I was never injured until I bought a pair of $120 Asics Gel Kayano.  Prior to that I had always run on the $45 cheaper models.  Anyway, give the book a read.  It’s a good story either way and has roots in Boulder, CO!

It’s been quite a while since my last post and let’s just say it has been an interesting couple of months.  On the home front, there are really two big things worth mention.  First, I’ve moved again in London.  The 6 month break clause was exercised on my last place forcing a move last April.  My new place is pretty cool, centrally located and set up well with a wonderful roof top terrace in a great part of town.  The bad news is that it happens to be over a dance club so I get the dulled sound of euro-tech disco in my bedroom into the early hours of Saturday and Sunday.  This hasn’t really been a problem as the majority of nights I’ve been here I’ve been so tired it doesn’t matter, or so jet lagged I couldn’t sleep anyway.  The second big thing on the home front is that after 3.5 years, Melisse and I have gone our separate ways and she is enjoying life in the S. of Spain where she can focus on her art, language and love of life in Europe.

On the work front, I’ve been staffed on a project for the last 4 months in the US.  The experience has been great as we’ve been based in and around Chicago which is a fabulous city in the summer.  The bad news is that I haven’t spent much time in London and the new flat is largely unused and I heard the summer here has been fabulous.  I’m now due for a couple weeks of holiday which I’m going to spend hanging out with the family in Washington and Montana and then mix in a trip to Fort Collins for Tour de Fat over Labor day!  I can’t wait.

Hopefully I can be a bit better about updating the blog from here on out.  Special thanks to Julie Penner for keeping the blog live.

I’m also scheduled for my first cross-channel sailing trip in 3 weeks!  Can’t wait!

Well, the Austria trip was canceled as it was getting a bit complicated and expensive to reschedule the flights after the BA crew went on strike.  It’s  total bummer as I was really looking forward to the trip.  I’ve never been skiing in Europe and actually haven’t strapped on the boards since leaving Colorado so I was really looking forward to it.  Oh well…

On the flat hunting front, I think I have found a new place.  If all goes well, the documents will show up this week and we can get the process rolling and finished before I leave for Spokane next weekend.  Yesterday, Melisse and I did a bit of reconnaissance in the neighborhood to check out the local pubs and all looks good.  I won’t go thirsty!  We also stumbled upon what looks like a great Argentinian steak house about 200 yards from the flat that needs too be properly tested after the move.

BA is killing me…I’m headed to Austria this week for a short ski holiday and am not sure if I’ll be able to get home as the BA crew has planned a strike for the coming weekend. As I’ve never worked in a unionized environment, I can’t even imagine what it would be like to stop going to work because I felt I was being mistreated or thought that I was owed more. In the world I come from, when you feel like you can do better elsewhere, you go and do it. I understand that there are all sorts of sides to this discussion and I am sure some of them are even valid. However, the bottom line is that BA has an uncompetitive cost structure and service levels that lag other carriers. As a frequent traveler, the cabin crew is biting the hand that feeds them as I will certainly take my business to other airlines to ensure that I can get to where I booked as planned.

See article here

As you may recall, we moved into an awesome place a few months ago and are still learning the ins and outs of the London housing market. When we first moved over here, we were advised to get a ‘6-month break clause’ put into the lease. Apparently this is quite standard and it gives the tenant the option to move out after 6 months and the landlord the option to kick you out. When we proposed it in our first lease, the landlord did not accept it and we were stuck 12 months in a place that was too small and had a pack of screaming kids upstairs.

When we found our current place in Islington, the clause was not included in the standard lease, so we asked that it be put in based on our first experience. About 1 week into the lease, we realised that we loved the place and that we had successfully negotiated in the right to be kicked out after just 6 months. Well, our fears came true last week as we received the dreaded letter from KFH saying that our landlord would like to move back into her flat and so we start the process all over again…

I have two appointments today and I’ll let you know how it goes. If the last two experiences are any indication, I will soon be educated on some new obscure feature of the London property market.