Boat kids at sunset, paddling from one boat to another. We spent a little over two months in the Balearics, starting at Formentera in the south and working our way north to Mallorca. A few words to describe our time there: kid boat flotilla, school, saharan dust, overtourism, pink bodies, rolly anchorages. Kid boat flotilla We started amassing the kid boats back in March in Gibraltar when we were moored a few slips away from Chris, Daria, and Jasper on RagDoll . We had mutual friends, we met more friends along the way, we created a WhatsApp group, and we started amassing in Formentera. The OG group (as the kids call it) was four boats, then it grew, and grew. By the time we all reached the all-around protected harbor of Port de Pollenca in northern Mallorca, there were at least 10 kid boats, Maybe even 12-14. Honestly, I lost track! We created WhatsApp offshoots, the kids had their own different conversation threads, sometimes we wished that Catran and Chris would start their own...
Meeting Positive Waves was surreal. We worked with the team at Boreal for over a year to configure the boat to exactly how we wanted it, from anchor size to autopilot choice to lamps and fans. We had a multi-page spreadsheet that we emailed back and forth with Jean Francois at Boreal and we had numerous phone and email conversations. Hans and I flew to Treguier at the end of January (right when coronavirus was exploding in Wuhan) and saw the boat at about 90% completion. She looked like a boat and we could imagine her finished, but she was still covered in protective plastic in places and the electronics and the galley weren't installed. When we walked down the dock yesterday evening and saw her tied up in a slip, it was like all the imaginings on paper materialized in real life. The kids ran down the dock and we implored them to "slow down, you don't have life jackets on!" Freja says that as she walked down the steep dock her legs were shaking from excitement and ...
PW on her way to her summer home, high and dry. We left Positive Waves in the middle of July, just as the heat and number of tourists in the western Mediterranean was rising exponentially. We split the time between Vermont and Sweden, camp and family, and Hans spent four weeks working in Texas and Wisconsin. The most common response we got from other boaters about our summer and early fall plans is, "it's always nice to have a boat break." Sometimes it is. No more endless dishes. Lots of on demand fresh water, and hot water. Space! But we left the boat when we were having a great time. Friends, great sea and air temperatures, good food both onboard and ashore. We were excited for our summer plans, but also not feeling like we needed a boat break. Of course, land life and spending time with friends and family was great. It's nice to spend more than a weekend with people, especially when we only meet up once a year, or less. We flew into JFK and spent our first night...
I love that street band's music and style! Nice video :-)
ReplyDeleteLOVE! <3
ReplyDeleteVery nice!!!πππ
ReplyDeleteKristen thank you for that wonderful video, you are amazing blog writer , an insperation to everyone
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