Location: Gibraltor
Wow, who knew 50 days could be gone so fast? It is unbelievable how time disappears while being on passage. Well, that was to be expected. I vividly remember the entire crew was on day 10. Wow, that went by fast, and we had so much fun. Who knew that 50 days could feel like ten very long days? It was our last time together. A bond that was broken but not forgotten. Our last day with the 50-day group was a day I’d never forget. We started the morning with the news that we had a free day. There were no planned activities, and we were able to explore “a bunch of monkeys and a big massive rock” (Anda). Love you, Anda. You will be missed from the six stacks. While we all had freedom, everyone went their own way. Jonathan, Garret, and Anda all went into the city. Anda got a great haircut. Jonathan bought me a gift that reminds me of ‘MURICA,’ which is such a great gift. (Dad, you will like it) While Will and I wanted to go swimming or lay out on the beach, so we went on a walk to Gibraltar Rowing Club. It was the most relaxing day. We had great conversations, listened to Michael Franti through the phone speakers, and had a fantastic time overall. While the girls were off to the coffee shop and making great memories, they joined us later. I went swimming with Flo while a 180-million-dollar yacht was leaving (Motor Yacht YAS). If anyone cares to see what a 180 million-dollar boat looks like, that’s the name. I was having a great conversation with Foster. We were talking about time from different perspectives. We both agreed that time doesn’t change, but it does while you are on Vela. Emma, our watch team leader who sailed with us every watch, had a great saying: Don’t say no to anything because it will be over before you know it will be gone; that’s the most accurate saying we learned. We can thrive off 5 hours of sleep and have the most fantastic day. It was our final sign-out night. Everyone got dressed up, and it looked like we were about to shoot 15 below at the masters. Let me tell you: YOU LOOK GOOD, YOU FEEL GOOD, YOU PLAY GOOD. That certainly was not the case for me and Anda. I’ll get to that later. We all had drinks and great food. The food was secondary to our conversation, which replaced how great the food was. The sun was setting, and with every lasting sun setting over the Atlantic Ocean, I realized we sailed 3,000 miles with these people who turned into my family. We all share and cherish that moment together. As the sun gave us the last look of the day, we all walked back to Vela for our final squeeze as a family. There were tears shed and laughter that will stay with me. You get to appreciate what we have done and how significant this is to Vela’s family. Once we were done with the squeeze, Tom said we were allowed to go to the pub and play pool. I challenged our captain, who is known as Tom, and the first mate, Mac. Let me tell you about a horrible mistake that Anda and I had. We challenge them to a round of pool. Tom would skip grade school to play pool. He sunk five balls in one round, we were screwed to another level, and I had no idea about what was about to occur lost very short that Tom; I’ll play you when I become captain one day. To the best day – Chuck Gold signing off