Friday morning I was scrambling around fixing things, buying parts and spares, always with the dark cloud of provisioning for another 10 days hanging over my head when I got a call from Jody that Nicolas (Nico) had arrived on the docks with gear in hand. We’d posted all over the net and through numerous crew agencies that we were in desperate need of a chef, and Nico was one of the applicants. He’d said in an email that he could come to the boat on Friday and I assumed that meant he was on Antigua and would show up for an interview. But he’d flown in that morning from St Maarten and that kind of dedication meant an interview was unnecessary – I was more than happy to pass the baton.
It took us months to go through the interview process the first time. This time around Nico, whom we knew nothing about simply showed up, I provided about 2 minutes of detail about the job, he said he was in, we said fine, done deal. Nico knows food. Now that we’re a few days down the line I can honestly say we have found culinary nirvana. I didn’t even have to eat something he had prepared to know we were in good shape- it was all evident Saturday morning in the markets watching him skillfully select the best produce, his brain noticeably whirring with anticipation of what he could create. Nico is a master. The galley has become “chez nico”, and Discovery is finally decked out in all her new logos. At last, we are ready for the Best pro trip.
Now on to kiting. Stacey, Alex and Dave Ogle, our videographer showed up Saturday evening but unfortunately Shannon, being an Australian citizen was held up at the airport in Miami as Antigua has just instituted a visa for the duration of the Cricket World Cup, being played now in the West Indies. His arrival now unsure, we decided to sail the next morning for Green island, just around the corner from Falmouth Harbour, where we’d heard there was some potential kiting. Whoa. Potential is just the beginning. This is the third trip in a row we’ve kited on the first day, but this spot reigns supreme.
Sometimes a picture says a thousand words- I’ll let the pictures do the talking. We filmed til sundown Sunday, and filmed for about 8 hours yesterday using the amazing tools of “Oglevision”, Dave’s incredible supply of helmet cams, board cams, kite cams, underwater housings, and of course jody’s lens to document Clinton, Stacey and Alex all throwing down some insane moves in some of the bluest most inviting water I’ve ever seen.
We added some things to make the day even more interesting, like towing Clinton into the stratosphere, and having him jump over…well, everything.
Today we woke early, got Clinton suited up for a 6 mile downwinder to Great Bird island, a fast sail on a beam reach for Discovery, and with the added benefit of having Clinton to entertain us for the duration. Shannon gets in shortly, I’m sure ready to put the traveling travails behind him and get to the work at hand- kiting in paradise.
