Weddings

This fall I was lucky enough to go to some really amazing weddings. It all started when my best friend Joanne got engaged and asked me to be her maid of honor. I had taken a job in the Med and wasnt sure how I was going to swing it, but I would. for sure. I almost missed Drake's wedding last year and that was NOT Going to happen again. As it turned out it wasnt an issue at all (see previous blog). Before I left Europe I went to Emma Jane's wedding in London.Emma Jane is Ben's step sister and she married Simon. They live in a beautiful house in Chelsea and drive a range rover and all of that so I knew this wedding was going to be top notch. I was about to leave for Morocco when Ben informed me that this was a hat wedding and did I have a hat. Did I have a hat?? Who, who is backpacking none the less, has a hat lying around? Carol, Emma Jane's mother, was kind enough to bring one down from Wales withthe 3 other hats she was bringing (and she has more than that at home!!). And a good thing too, I would have looked quite silly not having one, as EVERYONE had something on their head!

-note: you can also wear a fascinator which is like a really fancy headband. I would have opted for this, had I known. And I dont know if theyre called fascinators because they fasten or because theyre fascinating.

Anyways. The day started out at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, next to Hyde park. I know because from their top floor balcony you could see the whole thing! The ceremony was beautiful and featured a 15 piece Welsh choir who rang out "all you need is love" by the beatles, on their way out of the church. Afterwards we rode the bus to the hotel reception. Not just any bus, a london bus and a classic one at that! fantastic way to travel 6 blocks!

The reception was fantastic, lots of hat exchanging went on with the boys' top hats, and it was a great party for Emma Jane and Simon.

From London Ben and I flew to NH for Joanne's wedding. The week leading up to the wedding deserves it's own blog so stay tuned. As for Joanne and Mike, What a show! They rented Dexter's Inn in Sunapee which has everything you need for a great party in the mountains. A view of the foliage and ski resort, a huge backyard complete with lawn games and a party barn for after hours!

The girls and I got ready on the day of with Joanne. The sky cleared and the ceremony was beautiful. I cant think of words to say about it but Joanne has scrapbooked the whole thing, so take a look. IT was an amazing weekend and Im so happy for her and mike.

The next weekend I got to go to my cousin Denise's wedding. I was very excited to see my whole family, it had been awhile since we were all together. And very excited to see Denise get married. My aunt Jeanne was so cute! They all looked so happy!

It was a fall wedding in New England and we were on the coast in Maine so what a surprise when it was gray and windy! It didnt rain though, and the ceremony was outside over looking the sea. They kept it short and beautiful. Kate's husband Jeff lead the ceremony and he is getting pretty good at it! Better than a lot of priests Ive seen!

It was a fun dinner and great to see my sisters all at the same table.

The last one for awhile was Jillian's wedding to Nik. I was very worried I wouldnt make it to this one, I had to sail a boat to st Maarten to get on a plane to fly back! We skirted hurricane Tomas and made it down in record time! Just when I thought I was home free I got to the st maarten airport and the power was out! Noone was moving and when they finally did they checked us in by hand! I am keeping my hand written boarding pass for ever! No worries, we only left about an hour late and I had a connection to make in Charlotte. US air did a great job, somehow, and I made it all the way to Boston just about on time! Lucky for me I have some very good friends that still live in boston and Kzak was going to pick me up from the airport. I was very excited to have a sleepover and be "city girls" for the weekend. As I waited for Kzaks Subaru to pull up I saw a silver Audi and thought "wouldnt it be great if Alex AND kzak picked me up?" And THEY DID! We went out for dinner in CHarlestown at a hookah bar. (theres a hookah bar in charlestown, you say? yes there is, its great). From there we made our way to Kzaks temporary home in Malden. Lovely town. We woke up on Saturday VERY EXCITED! We made plans to meet Nell and Kristin for coffee at K's favorite coffee shop. JKLMN was going to be in the same city that day!!! We went back to Brians to get ready and drove to Dorchester to the church. The ceremony was beautiful and the reunion was fantastic! As we walked out of the church we saw 4 TV cameras and thought "Wow, who is this guy shes marrying!?" Apparently the limo the girls were in got HIJACKED! right before they walked into the church! AMAZING! Everyone was ok and the limo was found in Southie later.

Kzak, Dan and I threw the pre party in our hotel room and had a happy little UNH reunion of sailors! Amy, Gus, Michelle, the works! as the night went on things got better and better and we even got to speak to Jill! It was just awesome to be together again. Dancing and singing like we were in a basement somewhere in Durham. Thanks to great friends it was like no time had passed.

So I used to begrudge weddings but after this fall I look forward to them. What a great party, and people dont throw enough parties. It used to be a sort of competition in college, and we should continue the trend. Nothing is better than getting together with some great friends and having a good time.

So if youre getting married I wanna come. But let me know. soon. I have a lot of planning and traveling to do with these things!

Running around England

Wow. It has been awhile!

well to catch you up on the last two years....

Just kidding. I will highlight the highlights though.

Antigua last winter was great. Ben and I had a sweet little cottage and day jobs. It was surreal! After 5 months of "real life" we headed off in separate directions, me to Valencia, Spain, and him back to England. I had a mate job on Crackerjack, an 82' swan that did week charters in Croatia and Montenegro. EVERYONE SHOULD GO THERE. and soon, its going to become one of those places in 10 years. Youll have to check out my facebook albums.

After only a few months out there I got fired, (the theme of the year) and headed to

Cowes for Cowes week. Cowes week is the biggest event in sailing and it is massive! I sailed in a big one design fleet called X-one designs that are fantastic little wooden boats that are very high performance and finely tuned. We raced in a fleet of 88 and ended up 25th, not bad for some first timers! The best part of the week was being Temporary Members for the Royal Yacht Squadron. If races were delayed we'd go have some tea with the ladies who lunch on the lawn. If we finished well we'd sip some champagne with some very proper English gents. It was a hoot. We had 8 full days of racing and I was exhausted by the end but it was fantastic to be sailing in a fleet again with some really solid sailors.

The beer tents were plentiful and may have had something to do with me losing my voice mid week. Trying to communicate tactics by gesturing with two hands that are locked on the sheet is a very interesting task.

Cowes week finished with some awesome fireworks in a very hazy sky. It rained all day! All Id heard about were how good the fireworks were at the end of the week and they were rumors of them canceling! they didnt and we all had a blast! (get it, blast, fireworks, ha.)

All to quickly the racing finished and I was stuck in Europe for a month. "What should I do?" I thought. And answered "buy a tent, rent a car and run road races while exploring England." and I did. I started with training in cowes for the 1/2 marathon that coming sunday. Cowes is and island and like most islands every road goes up hill. (or downhill depending on if youre a runner (pessimist) or driver (optimist). The race itself was described as Undulating. Never a good sign. So on sunday morning I woke up nice and early and it was raining. No surprises there. I grabbed a 20 pound note and headed out the door. I didnt bring anything with me because the race instructions indicated there wasnt any place to leave valuables and I envisioned a tent in the middle of a field and my phone getting soaked.

I hopped on the bus and headed into the center of the island. Got to newport and changed busses to head out to the coast. Even though it was early I was awake enough to notice that my bus fare from cowes to shanklin was more expensive than I anticipated and with the race fee owed when I got there, I might not have enough to get home. "No problem" I told myself, "Im sure someone is heading back this way in a car and I can hitch a ride." I arrived and it was now pouring rain. Lucky us the race head quarters was inside the local Boules club. Because it's england and they have local Boules clubs. So there was actually plenty of dry space to keep valuables. This is important later in the story. I registered and got my number and took a seat to look at the course map. As I sat down I noticed a tall, Meredith tall, girl come in. She was hauling a small suitcase on wheels and I could tell that she didnt have anyone with her. -races, by yourself, can feel very lonely. Everyone has their wife or kid to hold their warm up clothes or help them pin their number on straight. When youre by yourself you stick out like a sore

thumb. And I know something about sore thumbs. But that was before now.

Anyways. Tall girl, whose name was Laura! sat down next to me and we chit chatted about the race. She is a personal trainer to the stars! Or someone rich enough to have a private personal trainer that travels with them to Morocco and the like. And she was on her way north to see the family. We warmed up together and started together and then her long, personal trainer legs, took off.

The race was great. Undulating for sure but relaxed, beautiful, and I got to chat with lots of nice people from london and the lot. I was thought to be from South Africa and Australia, noone ever guesses American. And I finished under my goal time of 2 hours. Laura was at the finish and we said "Good race, nice to meet you, and goodbye." I then began my hunt for a ride home. Funny enough, though they came out to run 12 miles, most people drove from very short distances away and I couldnt seem to find anyone heading all the way back to Cowes. "No problem" I told myself. "Ill get the train to Ryde (thats a ticket to ryde, shes got a ticket to Ryde and she dont care, la la la la) and grab a taxi from there, I can pay them when we get home." So I hopped the train, got to Ryde, saw on the map that at most it was 8 miles home and started walking in order to hail a cab. Forgetting that this was NOT NYC, it was england, and people dont hail a cab, they go to a cab stand. 12 miles and a wrong turn later I turned up at home with sore toes and a very thirsty me! Great race, long walk, nice day.

A few days later I grabbed the morning ferry to Southampton and rented a car. Only noticing as I checked in that my American license had expired in may, I had renewed it like a good kid should, and only had the expired version with me. The lady was nice enough (or foreign and didnt feel like translating the situation) to add a year onto my existing license and let me get the car. Ready to go with my Tom Tom and cell phone I headed north to visit Craig, former Necker chef, instructor of fire poi and good friend from the islands. We toured Oxford, had a scavenger hunt for dark rum, and caught up in his local pub. We parted the next day and I was off to run a 5k in Windsor. I arrived nice and early, walked up to the tent and found out that this was in fact a triathalon and I must have red the directions wrong. bummed but not disc

ouraged I went for my own little run and pitched my tent

in the

big field where noone would notice me. After a good night sleep I woke up, headed into Windsor proper to see the castle, saw the 5k running signs from the night before and realized I was just a few miles away from a good 5k the day before. O well.

I drove west from there, choosing the "avoid main roads" option on Tom Tom. This lead me on some great adventures. Dear Tom Tom, I think you should know that not all roads are paved, wide enough for even the compact car I was driving, or passable by anyone but sheep.

Again I ran some really great races. Trail runs are all the rage in England. So is running very seriously. And not getting tshirts after races.

My second to last race was a 5 miler trail run. I showed up early and found out that this was the first year theyd run the race and it was going to be pretty small. We had almost 30 people run, but 20 of them were kids in the fun run ahead of time! The trail was marked with colored yarn and was pretty confusing to follow. So confusing that, though we were running together, most of us got lost and finished 5 minutes before the decided winners! We missed a lap and about a mile and a half! We all got ribbons anyways and had a great time.

I had found a great campground in close proximity to all the places I wanted to go with hot showers and well that was really all I cared about. Each night after running I'd head back, grab a shower and curl up in my tent to listen to the rain fall. Id fall asleep and dream about getting soaked but my 10 pound tent held it's own and I stayed dry as long as I didnt touch the edges! From my comfortable little camp in the middle of nowhere I headed into the big city of Bath.

Bath, so Jane Austen Iknow, was great. A big town with ancient ruins of Roman Baths and lots of English pubs. I spent the day wandering around the streets before heading just out of town to the horse races!! Id heard it was a very english thing to do and if Eliza D0olittle can do it, so can I. I didnt buy a hat but dressed up and even bought a bet! It was exciting to be in the stands with everyone cheering! Horse racing, like American football however, has a lot of down time and downtime plus downpour = bored laurel. I headed out of town early to head back to my campsite. I had to get up early to drive the 2 hours back towards London for my last race, another 1/2 marathon. Since all the races I'd participated in so far had been pretty small, local affairs I was ready for the same when I pulled into the race site and they directed me 2 miles away to park!! I parked ina field with lots of other cars and began the walk back to the site. This was NOT your local weekend run. Big start line banners and tents set up with over 2000 people running! I had met a woman a couple days before who was a former olympic marathoner. She was in her 50s now and still running. I saw her before the race and wished her luck on her goal time of 95 minutes. (I run it in 2 hours and am estatic!). there are some very serious runners in england. This race was 2 laps through a wooded area, paved trail. quite a bit easier than the last one, and no mud like the rest of the week! I was tired from the previous races and mile 10 started to take its toll. WHen I looked up and saw a woman in front of me wearing a 65+ sticker on her number tag i had a minor break down. I beat her, barely, in the last mile!!

All in all it was a great week. A great way to see England and fun to go camping in the rain!!

I quit my job

At the end of July I decided to leave the Encore crew. It was just time and I had another job lined up. I was supposed to work until September, go to England, and come back and take this other job but I got antsy (surprise, surprise my last name is gaudet). So as of August 1 I was unemployed, uninsured and happier than ever. I immediately drove to Newport and got on a boa racing that weekend. Turns out I stumbled onto a great one and have raced a bunch with them. When I finally made it home to see Mom and Dad (ok I really needed to drop off my stuff, I had a truck full) I got to spend some time in Maine and NH and it was great. I went sailing with half the fam.

I had time to help Missa

move to Balitmore and got to see Julia at the same time. And force her to hang out on a boat.

I even had time to take artsy shots of the Domino sugar factory,

and spend a weekend on Appledore Island (no photos, I thought my camera was gone forever at the bottom of Narragansett, it wasnt, it was in Flurte's tender in Nantucket.)

The next Rima race was in Stamford, the same town that Michelle works in! We raced ~150nm in 30 hours under 8 knots... it was slow to say the least. The more exciting part was the dinghy racing that happened the next day at Michelle's yacht club.

After hanging with M I finally got to fly to England! That other job that I had lined up fell through, and I got to stay quite a bit longer than intended. While I was there I checked London, Cowes, Gibralter, sailing in the med, and Malta off my list of TO DO's.

And I even made it back in time to see

Allison get married and hit up NH for one more hike before taking my new job.

We're based in Antigua and have christmas off.... anyone feel up to traveling with the rest of the world?

Summer of Firsts

This summer has been a summer of firsts.

Living in Long Island is a first. It's not a very interesting town so I bought my first skateboard.

I ride it before the kiddies get out of school because I get embarrassed when the 14 year olds show up at the park and I can hardly ride in a straight line. I try to practice on my way to work but let's face it, skateboarding is something you should start at an early age.

Sometimes the boat goes to Newport on our way to or from the outer islands. Newport is a much nicer town with lots of people in it. There are a lot of boats that summer in Newport thus a lot more "yachties." Sometimes we get together and do things. Most of the time those things have to do with a bar or rum but not always. This time when we rolled into town a few of us had started playing Polo. Since I have never seen a polo match and haven't ridden a horse in about 15 years, I decided I definitely should try it out.

I think I was quite good, all things considered. I hit the ball quite a few times and even scored a goal. (against equally green polo players, though some very good riders!) Polo is very popular in Rhode Island.

July started off with a bang. The whole fam came out to the great city to see a Broadway play (a first). I chose Mamma Mia so as not to be too serious, themed, or controversial. It worked and everyone left laughing.

While in Newport I got invited to sail in the Marblehead to Halifax race.

The boat was a 72' Santa Cruz sled and we went very fast. Ok there was hardly any wind and we went about 5 knots on average, but we did beat all but 4 boats in. This was my first time in Halifax. It really is a nice city, just cold. I recommend that everyone buy a big, warm hat and go there.

The race was hosted by the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron. The RNSYS is one of a very few yacht squadrons in the world. The difference between a yacht squadron and a yacht club is that a squadron is sponsored by a royal family and is technically part of a country's armed forces thus it can be called into service in time of war. I dont know if I would want to defend anything with any little sail boat, but who knows.

Kate and I seem to have the same problem keeping a blog regularly but I think it makes it all the more exciting when we do post. I just finished our work log for the boat for the Caribbean season, backlogging daily work done on the boat, and it propelled me to think back over the past few months. 

When I left you last we were on charter in the height of charter season. Since then I've traveled ~10,600 miles (as the crow flies) and acquired 6 new stamps in my passport. We went down island we went up island and I even flew to France. Here are some of the pictures!

We had a charter that went from St. Lucia down to Grenada stopping at St. Vincent, Bequia, The Tobago Cays, Carriacou and stopping at the southern tip of Grenada. The big islands were beautiful, very green and lush and very different from the islands Im used to. 

The Pitons of St. LuciaMarigot Harbor, St. Lucia 

On the way back we stopped in Dominica for a couple hours off. With over 600 rivers it is one of the wettest islands and has amazing rainforests and waterfalls because of it. At the bottom of this valley we jumped off a cliff into a waterfall pool!

I also visited Antibes, France et il ete tres bien, bien sur! 

The Monaco Grand Prix race trackOld cathedral village in Vence. I was reading Ken Follet's The Pillars of the Earth (a really good story that you all should read!)  at the time and it was so exciting to see the construction he was describing right in front of me! Antibes city square with a view of the water. 

News from around town

Though I dont have any photos to post I think it's time I put up a new entry.
My life here in the caribbean has settled into a "routine" (or as much of a routine as one can settle into when they move around and do different things everyday). We have been on charter for most of the month of March and moving the boat between St. Maarten and the VIs inbetween. This leaves little time for wakeboarding, running, or anything fun and personal. I just barely got my brackets into Dad before the games started and, I'm not going to lie, I hardly looked at which teams I was clicking on to win. But so be it, that's the nature of the beast, I can hardly complain. Though our routine is an odd one it's nice to have one and it's very nice to be back in the VI because they're much prettier islands.
Anyways, all this time sitting around waiting for our guests to do something has left me ample time to ponder things like what I'm going to write about in my next blog. I have been making a concerted effort to catch up with and stay in touch with many people from back home. This blog is about is what everyone else is up to.
Let's see....
Congratulations to Lindsay K, my college roomate, for getting into Vet school! Though years of school doesnt sound awesome to me Im wicked proud of the girl!
Speaking of college roomates, Allison D is getting Married this fall! yikes!
Marrige is contagious and Jill P is getting married in the fall as well!
Rachael M is back at the books studying criminal law and living in Brooklyn, I cant wait to catch up in the city this summer!
Amanda A is teaching music to kids in NH, appropriately and happily.
Joanne S got her first offical passport and is coming to visit me in the islands! (She got the passport to go on vacation with Mike in Europe, but those are just details).
On the traveling note, Seth and Will have undertaken their craziest endeavour yet and are calling it the Epic Man http://theepicmancometh.blogspot.com/. And I thought running a marathon was hard.
Michelle just bought a car!
Nell has moved to the big city of Portland to stay while Dustin is in New Zealand learning about grapes.
I guess those are the big Milestones... Noone is pregnant (Jen?) Graduating early? (Kate?) I dont have much going on, looking at taking my AEC (which is the first certification for marine engineering) and upgrading to an unlimited Yacht Master at some point this summer or fall. Trying to fit everything into the 4 weeks of vacation with an actual vacation far away from boats (or at least sailing on boats).
What is everyone else up to?

It seems last time I wrote I was wishing everyone a merry christmas and happy new year, sounds like a good time for an update.
Again, because the days run together on the beach, Ill have to refer to the contents of my overused camera.
After our charter in the BVI we took a half of a day to play and rest in the North Sound, VG. Pretty much top 3 favorite places of mine, if you didnt know. Since Ben came up to visit I had to show off my local knowledge and we drove out to The Grotto to do some cliff jumping. The Grotto is in the rocks on Mountain point and pretty much the coolest spot ever to jump in the water. As you swim up to it it looks like an uninteresting pile of rocks and you have to dive below it or climb over it to get in. Since we forgot masks we chose to climb (and I got a chance to show off my wicked bouldering skills). After a few climbs and jumps we swam back to the dinghy and went to Saba Rock for lunch, YUM!
Sad as it was, we had to start our drive back to St. Maarten that evening and after 11 hours of pounding into the wind and waves we dropped anchor and waited for the morning bridge.
When we got back we found the island to be full of friends. Ben and Dee were off charter and Tony and Nina were getting their decks done and in town for a week or so. First order of operation on any good day off is to steal Knickerbocker's crew tender and go wakeboarding! if I ever figure out how to load videos onto this you'll see how sick I am (well sort of). That photo is of Dee. Since we had such a tough morning we decided to take the rest of the day on the beach.
Im going to jump ahead a couple weekends, there was plenty of working being done during the weeks, I swear, I dont hang out on the beach everyday. I do go wakeboarding pretty much every day after work though, so Ive got that going for me, which is nice.
There is a day off tradition that happens every once in awhile called Rose Lunch. Basically this consists of going to a beach with a restaurant (not hard to find here in tourist country) and ordering a bottle or 3 of the cheaper rose wine. As you can imagine lunch stretches right on to sunset. I was at one of these rose lunches whcn Dad and Mom were visiting Jules in DC. That's me talking to Dad. After that we were back on charter and I left my camera in my room. Tune in next time for Meredith's surprise birthday!

A Visit To See Julia

Mom and I flew to D.C. to see Julia this weekend. We left Manchester early Saturday Morning after Mom spent too much time being padded down by security. It seems that if you pack away your boarding pass and then set off the security alarm, the security people get awful suspicious. The good news is that Mom passed the security investigation and we were able to complete our flight to D.C.

We landed at Reagan National airport despite our political misgivings at using an airport named after a person for whom we hold little respect. Jules picked us up at the curb and we drove off to Brian and Brenda's house for breakfast and to see the twins.


The bird joined our breakfast and ate dad's muffin.

Jules treated us to very good seats at half court / row 2. Watching the game from these seats was like sitting on the bench and watching. Georgetown played an interesting and exciting game but ended up losing in overtime.

On Sunday morning we toured Julia's workplace and saw her cubicle as well as the Georgetown campus. Nice place! We spent the rest of Sunday touring the mall.





Our flight home was very smooth without anyone being padded down.

Salsa Recipes

Hi everyone,

Reggie and I have been eating more and more salsa lately and I too have become disappointed by most of the store bought salsas, so a request for any recommendations and if you could post any recipes to the family recipe page?

Hope all is well with everyone!

Jenny

Happy Holidays from a little island

Living in St. Marten has made me realize just how different each of the caribbean islands are. St. Marten is a larger island that is divided by two countries, France and the Netherlands. Because of these two cultures in addition to the high tourist volume and the local caribbean flavor, there is always a lot going on here. Here are some examples of why I live in the caribbean;

*The gate to our hotel and Marina is always closed as you go out, the gate in is always open. 

*The Grande Marche had christmas music play over the loud speaker, but only when their live reggae cover band wasnt playing. 

*You can also taste test booze in the grocery store. 

*At the checkout they have single beers in the cooler instead of Cokes

*The path I run on is in habited by goats and cows... lots of them. I often end up hearding them as they run away and dont think to run the other direction. 

*You can get almost everywhere you need to go (bar, marine

 store, internet cafe, pharmacy) but dinghy, which is a very good thing as the traffic is terrible. 

*You can eat proper french gourmet or out of a chicken truck (which is literally a truck)

The question arose of what we do for fun. Not that there is ever a lack of it just living with the people I live with, but let me think of some examples. 

-Happy hour is always on the menu. There is a bar here that has 2 for 1 drinks but you have to get 2 so drink up. The same bar has a pool that you can swim in and sit at the bar in. 

-The airport is very close to the water (everything is, its a

 small island) so when planes come in and out you can get quite close to the runway. As any good buisnesman would do, someone built a bar there. Its called the Sunset and faces west but the main attraction is facing east or windward. People stand at the gate to the runway, hold on and get lifted by the after burners on the big jets. Sand gets blasted and people fall

down, its down right hillarious. 

-Then there are always watersports to take part in. I rented a windsurfer the other day and Jenna and Brooks took their first kite lesson so we'll all be partaking in that soon. (its way easier to pack onto a boat). 

-When all else fails get into your car and drive around the island. I havent made it all the way around in one go yet but I've done it in a weekend. You should also drive to the top of the highest hill you can find. We found a pretty good one that overlooks Phillipsburg and Marigot and looks south. 

That's all for now. We do have to work sometime! 

Happy New Year!

A new island

We made it to St. Maarten from Newport in a week, to the minute. The delivery was great! Good weather, happy crew. Basically we rocked it, saw some breeze (up to 40Knts) and topped out with a boat speed of 12.2!
We've now been here for over a week and managed to get ourselves in to plenty of good spots. Day 1 was wash down and put the boat back together. It was still the work week so we worked thursday and friday, fighting hangovers the whole time.
It's traditional for a crew to arrive after a delivery, wash down and then head to a huge dinner. This equation sounded a bit like doomsday for all of us who were running on very little sleep and I saw visions of falling asleep in our moules frites. As a boat we opted for washdown and the bar. The Soggy Dollar Bar is at the dinghy dock so you have very little choice about where you start the night. As it was a wednesday town wasnt really rolling we grabbed some Lebanese dinner while we waited for the ground to stop moving. By the time we'd drank enough beers to stop swaying (but before we drank enough to start swaying again) the Knickerbocker crew had rolled up and the dance party was well underway. The Soggy Dollar Bar here in St. Maarten is soggy for a different reason than the SDB in Jost. In Jost you have to swim to the bar so your dollars get wet. In St. Maarten, apparently, there is an overhead shower inside the bar... so your dollars get wet! There's also a machine that makes soap fall like snow. So we had that going for us... which was nice.
We worked the next day and looked forward to our sit down dinner in Marigot. The french side of the island has some pretty sweet spots for food. They are tres bien, you might say. We found our spot along the road and began the feast with our favorite appetizer, mussels and french fries. The french have an amazing tradition of a post meal appertif of fruit infused rum. Though you get a shot and sip it, we managed to finish the bottle before the cows went home.
On saturday we finally made it to the beach. The beach here is a little different than the beaches Im used to in the bvis. There are people on these beaches. and bars. The water is warm and salty and we lounged for the afternoon sipping ti-punch cold.
On sunday we went ziplining!! There is a zip line course here that you take a truck up and zip down! Hannah has the pictures (my camera was lost in Gavin's pants) but theyre pretty wicked. Next time you get a chance to zip through a rain forest, do it.
Back to monday and the work week... tune in for the blog about what I'm fixing this week.

Laurel gets a new job

Yup. it happened.
I am officially working for the man but dont worry, it's working for the man as only I could do. I work on his yacht. In October I started working for a 73' sloop called Encore. She's a beautiful custom design by Sparkman and Stephens built as a racing machine 20 years ago. She doesnt race any more but has won Antigua race week 5 or so times!
Im working as the mate aboard. I guess Im the First Mate but there's only one, me, so I don't thing it's important to specify. I work with a Captain, Brooks, a Chef, Mike (Hammer) and a Stewardess, only we havent hired a stew so I dont know who she is yet. The captain and chef are fabulous people, which is a good thing because we all live together and work together and see each other pretty much all day everyday.
My job is pretty awesome. It is different everyday and keeps my ADD and SOS (shiny object syndrome) well satisfied. Some days I wash the boat. Some days I take things apart like mufflers and winches. Some days I put things together like generators and winches. Some days I help Brooks invent ways to do things like cool our bevys down (we made a deck locker into an insulated and cooled drink locker). Basically I'm in charge of making sure things dont break, fix them when they do, its a boat after all, and keeping the boat looking sharp.
The other part of my job that is awesome is where it takes place. Currently the boat is in the Newport Shipyard for a refit. Newport is a great town but it is getting coooold! Today it was 24 degrees when we got to the boat! Good thing the actual winter takes place in the Caribbean. You didn't think I got a job in the US did you? So I get to go home to the warm blue water and spend 5 months there exploring some new islands further down the chain. In May we make the delivery north and summer in Long Island Sound. All in all some very nice places to live and work and play. And if I work or play too hard it's ok because I have health insurance now too!
So that's me working for the man, or at least his boat and having a terrific time! Come visit when you get a chance!

Keeping up with Kate

After reading Kate's blog I am re-inspired to try this blog thing out again. Though mine certainly wont be as clever as Kate's it will be full of adventures (random/ adventures.. whatever you call it).
Again Im going to go off my photos. My journal writing happens as often as my blogging!

Often, during adventures we end up climbing things and jumping off of them. This is the day Marco, Dom, Scotty, Jerome, Drew and I dinghied around Virgin Gorda. We stopped at Pajerous Point and climbed up the cliffs at the very North eastern tip of VG. Though we were very careful to keep out shoes dry on the swim in we ended up with some soggy sneakers after jumping off the cliff. O well. No good day ends with dry shoes..


Also among the photos from this year: The Voyage for Cleaner Energy. While in Martha's Vineyard I learned about the sailing vessel 2041
In an effort to build awareness that the treaty that the world signed in agreement to leave Antarctica undeveloped and unclaimed is up for debate in the year 2041. The boat follows a lecture series by Robert Swan. If you get a chance go see his lecture, it's very good. Check the website to see their schedule.





And then there's always big things to discover. While at a regatta party in Portsmouth Chris topped off my bevy with some goslings.



While visiting Michelle in NY we stopped by Super Duper Weenie for lunch. The line was long but the weenies were super. Any time youre traveling up 95 stop at the Black Rock Turnpike and grab a weenier. Worth it for sure.

How many marathons can one person fit into one month you ask? I went for 3. Of course I only ran one of them. Alex and Seth kick off the whole shebang with running the marathon in Berlin. I didnt get to see that one so I'm not counting it in my total. I ran the Newport Marathon in RI with ~600 people. The race was a great course all around Newport and Middletown. 26.2 miles later I had some sore legs and a time of 4:22. It was awesome! Jenna ran with me for ~1 1 miles and we thrilled the camera man at mile 16.
The week after I flew to DC to see Julia run the Marine Corps marathon. It was basically the same as mine... with 24,000 more people. Jules and her friends all finished and did really well!
The week after that was the NYC Marathon that Jordan ran. What a month! Congrats to everyone! Now go sit on a couch and eat something! (and tune back into the blog!)

Camera contents

In leaving the Caribbean in June I lost my camera cord. I recently received a new one and was able to upload all my photos from the summer. Let's see if I can do a summary blog....There is a slight time gap between my birthday and july due to my camera being replaced while I was in California for Ben and Dee's wedding but let's see what else we have...

My birthday in May was excellent. I celebrated it 4 or 5 times in different locations each time. The first unofficial celebration was with mom and dad on their trip to the bvis. My new rainbow sandals were much needed and are now broken in just right. I was in Boston for my actual birthday and had a wonderful dinner with Jillian and Jen at Temple Bar in Cambridge. From Boston I was headed to NY for a flight back to the bvis. As my official NYC ambassador, Janie had a great plan for a little birthday-ness. When in NYC drink Champagne at The Plaza! Before I left the city I caught up with the Sled Ladies for dinner in what else but a restaurant that looked like a ship! All in all it looks like 24 is going to be a pretty good year!

(insert Ben and Dee's wedding photos/visit to Nell in Portland OR)
Next pictures are of the Blessing of the Fleet in 5 Islands, ME. In true Maine style, the local pastor blesses all of the fishing boats and their men for a safe and prosperous season. Once all the official business is done the fun and games start. First up a parade around the harbor in pea soup fog! After that they let the local kids compete in a trap running contest strung between two docks... only in maine...
I spent the summer up and down between Maine and Martha's Vineyard working on Noctiluca and finding other jobs when I could.

Dad and I hiked Mnt. Washington. I've never done it and Dad hasn't been back since they paved the top so I asked if he would go with me. He was right, of course, that the top was a bit disapointing when you realize everyone else just drove, but it was a great hike!

We had a bit of a UNH reunion when Chris called and asked if I wanted to sail the Downeaster. Alie, Laura, Chris, Dan and I sailed with Shawn and took 2nd for the weekend. With Diana running the RC it was just like sailing on Mendum's!

Back to the islands I go but this time the ferry went a bit further, to Nantucket! I caught up with Adam Knee and Saw Robert Swan speak about global climate change. I helped take his Voyage for Cleaner energy to NYC for their next engagement.




Next up: Ed's wedding. Alex, Seth and I drove out to Jamaica Vermont to celebrate Ed and Lisa's Luau of Love. With a bon fire, a hot tub and a whole lot of Girl Talk we had a great party and some really good egg sandwiches!
We found our way to the Alpine slides on our way home as well as to a snowboard gear museum.

The summer finishes up with some more boating, lots of running (in marathon training) and Xavier Rudd in concert. All in all everything looks good!

A brief episode in the BVIS...
After Mom and Dad left I had to seriously start thinking about my summer plans. I finally have a delivery north leaving on Saturday that takes me to Bermuda and Newport that should be great. As I set up my summer I have to start thinking about leaving, which is never fun. Mostly I choose to not think about it and do everything I can (except work, of course). The weekend was pretty slow. We had a wonderful barbeque with everyone on Saturday. The crew of Too Elusive brought some amazing steaks and pork to grill and we feasted very close together on Drew's couch as it started to POUR just as dinner was ready. With some fanstastic reggae tunes we enjoyed the rain almost as much as the very dry island did. Sunday was traditional sunday breakfast. Yours truely makes egg sandwhiches for everyone who comes by after opening the marina. (Sundays are very slow). The boys were going exploring for Marco's last adventure so I tagged along as we drove up to Pajeras Point (past Oil Nut Bay). There were many rocks to climb and cliffs to jump. We anchored just offshore after a sketchy attempt to tie up to the shore. Timing was important to get onto the cliff as the swells have been rolling for afew days. Once ontop we make it a jungle gym, with the added challenge that the rocks are all shale or loose granite and tend to break off when you use them as a hand or foot hold.
We worked up an appetite and came back for food. Someone had a craving for chinese (very tough to get around here) and we continued our adventure to Main land Virgin Gorda. The Flying Iguana is a resturant located at the airport on VG. The airport on VG is about the size of our house in epping. The runway is dirt and the flying iguana hosts a great look out for celebrities as well as scary plane landings (most who fly in to VG swear it will be their last time). The cook was out (or never came in) and we ordered and waited for our 2 hour chinese takeout. We climbed back into Drew's jeep which is an adventure in itself. Perfectly road safe, newly painted and sort of has seat belts (which are required by law for the 2 in the front). The 2 in the back can stand up and do handstands for all the law cares. The jeep does lack a certain Je ne said quoi.. O wait, I do know... A windshield and windows... but it has brakes and seats now!
As I said, It was Marco's last adventure and I drove him to the airport at 430 the next morning. (in a boat, 15 miles or so). After I came back there was really no way I was working for a whole day, especially when there's nothing to do... so I hoped a ferry with Dom (my surfing buddy... by buddy I mean he surfs and I paddle out, get washed and come back in). The north side of Tortola was breaking and we hit Josiahs again until it started getting too big and closing out. Since taxis are outrageous and renting is cheap we hoped in our brand new car and drove to Apple bay to catch the better waves. Those were too big for me so I drove back to town to go to the grocery store.
Let's talk about grocery stores. Yall that live up in the big cities have many to choose from filled with options. Not so much here. A trip to Tortola allows us to choose from at least 3 stores, each with limited product selection. Even this is a vacation for us island bums who live in 2 week cycles, as the delivery barge comes up.
I had promised to make Dom and Jo (our host for the night) dinner and found some amazing produce to make a quick chicken curry.
Dom finally got out of the water as the sun went down and we made our way back to the other end of the island to cook. Jo is an amazing host and we all ate and attempted to watch Benny and Joon.... but ultimately passed out after a perfect day in the sun.
Since I definately couldnt go back in the morning Dom and I headed back to Apple this morning and caught a few more waves before the afternoon ferry left.
All in all, A wonderful weekend/ work week... in the BVIS!
Miss you all!
L

Hi All,
After a wonderful and too short visit from Mom and Dad I've decided to try to keep a blog. (Yes, there was some parental peer pressure involved). I'm not the Dickens Kate is so Ill just try to lay down the facts and be witty.
The weather has turned summer which in the BVIs means hot and sticky, buggy and caalllmm. The night they flew in was a full moon. I don't know if anyone else is aware of the full moon but down here we celebrate it like a monthly holiday. In Trellis Bay (where the airport is) there is a Full Moon Fireball and Jumbie party. Trellis is a beach bar with and local art work shop. In the water they fill carved iron balls with wood and light them on fire while colorful dancers on stilts dance to Soca, representing spirits of the dead. Most islanders choose to be buried barefoot as if their shoes are left on they are cursed to walk the earth for eternity. The on-site staff at Bitter End celebrate it with a hobie race a few miles upwind to Oil Nut Bay and a bonfire. With breeze blowing 8-10knts Team Gaudet made it up to oil nut as the 3rd boat! The bon fire was started with about 5 gallons of gasoline and the cooler opened. Sir Richard and his guests joined us with the Necker staff so we were well attended.
Mom and Dad had some great weather but little breeze while they were here. We did, however, have enough to sail to the world famous Baths (Dad, how do you put photos on this thing?). My friend Craig had his father in town and they joined us for our adventure. After a picturesque lunch at the Top of the Baths we had lots of time to explore the caves and massive boulders. Though there were some doubts from the participants as to the credibility of their tour guides everyone made it to the top to partake in the breathtaking vista. They don't just put these words in the guide books, it actually is breathtaking.. either the view or the hike to it. Tuesday I had to work (occasionally it happens) and Mom and Dad participated in a Discover Scuba dive with our onsite dive shop. Apparently Dad and Jen have the same ears as he had some trouble clearing to go to depth. I think the underwater world was appreciated, though, as they were avid snorkelers every other day.
Wednesday was the weekly trip to Anegada, the sunken island. The 14 mile trip out was flat and beautiful and the beach on the northside was as amazing as ever. Mom and Dad snorkeled before lunch with Rob and Mel and found some turtles and cudas to play with. Lunch included the famous conch fritters and shrimp from the Big Bamboo. On the trip back the boat stopped as 2 gray whales flipped their tales to say hello. After some amazing play with the whales we had to continue back to Bitter End.
Thursday morning was spent in the water of Eustatia reef snorkeling with an abundance of colorful fish. The noon ferry took us to Tortola where we were spending the afternoon and night for the early morning flight. Josiah's bay is a local surf beach a walk from The Tamarind Club, where we were staying. We spent the afternoon body surfing and attempting to stand on a board (Laurel will get it someday) and getting eaten by no seeums (see the caribbean isnt perfect). Tamarind was wonderful and relaxing for an early night before a 630 ride to beefisland for the airport. Very sad to see them go, I walked them through the departure tax (they get cha on the way out, mwhaha) and to security.
Thanks to mom and dad for making the trip. Ill try to keep this up. Looking for a ride out currenlty and should be up that way soon. Anyone know of anyone who wants to hire a watersports bum for a month or two this summer? Im good at stuff.
Miss you all.
L