Hey, hope you’re good. How’s your week been?
Its my day off again and my first lie in of the week. Nice to have a lazy morning. Cook some porridge; write this; wander around the house in my pants killing mosquitos with a book. Going to a beach with others soon, then windsurfing this afternoon. Will be a nice day.
Updates from this week:
- My brain has started incorporating Chris’s snoring into my dreams. Sometimes it’s a thunder storm, sometimes the creaking of a big old ship rocking to and fro at harbour. Need to buy some earplugs.
- I now spend most lunchtimes asleep on the beach. Never been a napper but all this cycling and wing foiling is wearing me out.
- Last night a v drunk guest told me that they wanted to adopt me and that their daughter would really like me. Bit strange.
- Averaging 1 to 2 hours a day on the wing foil, so I’m improving at a good rate. Nailed the foiling gybe yesterday and pretty darn pleased with myself.
- Eating an obscene amount of food at the moment.
- Received a very bad haircut from one of the team. Looks ok sometimes but totally uneven and a bit of a mess. ah well.
- Covered in mosquito bites.
- Had a lot of very nice people on my rides last week. Was a pleasure, and last night at the weekly BBQ / presentation thing they bought me a shitload of drinks. Handy really as I have v few monies.
- Starting to think about what the hell I’m going to do after this. Current idea is to try and get a few gigs writing in bike magazines. Need to pull my finger out and get started though. The days are so full here it’s tricky.
Thought I’d give a bit more of a lay of the land for ya. The resort I work at is a bit different to most of the Neilson resorts. Instead of being a big campus kinda thing catering to sporty families with a range of activites, it’s a small affair almost completely dedicated to windsurfing. For most of the guests here, things like cycling and yoga are simply something to do while they wait for the wind to arrive.
Thankfully, the wind does seem to arrive almost every afternoon / evening. Eric, as it’s known by locals, is the predictable thermal breeze that blows across Vasiliki bay. Eric has given Vasiliki a reputation for high winds and flat waters, and the mile-long beach is lined with windsurfing centres. In the evenings, staff from these centres bust out incredible freestyle tricks on the water. It’s pretty cool to watch.
Some of our guests can discuss the likelihood of Eric arriving for hours. It’s not enough to simply look at the forecast and sit patiently. Instead, they pace up and down wearing amusing windsurfing outfits – very specific hats; colourful rash vests; sport shades on neoprene strap. They posit theories about the positioning of certain clouds and compare weather forecast providers. They also spend hours walking up and down expressing opinions on how sails should be rigged and how everything’s changed since they learnt to waterstart in 1982. Thankfully, most of them are far lower maintenance, and just like to get out and blast back and forth.
At the opposite end of the beach to Neilson is the town of Vasiliki itself, where we live. It’s a small town – you could walk every street within half an hour. Lots of surfer shops and souvenir shops selling ankle bracelets and shell jewelry. The nicest part is the harbour, which is lined with food places. Typical Greek vibe to it, but for the English diners at every restaurant.
Behind the town and the bay is a broad valley full of olive groves, with wildflowers growing under the trees. Beyond that are mountains, where I lead a lot of my rides. Loads of pretty old villages tucked up on the hills full of old people wearing formal clothes carrying traditional farm tools or herding goats. Moustached old men sitting completely static outside coffee shops with a shirt and waistcoat on.
Anyway there you go, a quick update and hopefully you found it somewhat interesting learning about Vasiliki.
Keen to hear from you,
Love
James
