A wonderful day here in England today, started out with bright sunny skies, and I was told to enjoy while I could. Breezes at around 12-15, and a high in the low 70s. Went to the club in the morning, and had a bit of a practice sail after fixing my bailer. Beautiful out there, but the waves were still quite impressive. Sunday is race day at the Hayling Island Sailing Club so there were many dinghies and keel boats out racing, both adults and juniors. The juniors knew that the Masters are old guys, so when I walked by any of them, they all said "hullo sir".
Today I had planned to visit my former bowman and his wife in Oxford. He has just graduated with an MBA from the School of Business and was leaving tomorrow for a trip to Italy before returning to the US. Had a wonderful time walking around Oxford. Today was the one day a year they open all the halls, colleges and libraries to the public, so it was quite impressive to see everything. We also had a chance to visit Christ Church in Oxford and it was really impressive. The cathedral and the grounds are massive, with a cow pasture right in the middle of Oxford. Amazingly beautiful stained glass windows, and also incredible to see the tomb of John de Nower. This Knight who died in 1386 was 6'6" tall, incredibly huge for his time. He must have looked like Goliath on the battlefield to his enemies. The statue of him lying down on his tomb, in life size, is really impressive. With an average height of 5' back in the 14th century, people must have really thought this guy was a true giant. The drive to and from Oxford is not bad, only about an hour and a half, and it certainly was worth it.
Sam and Laura took me to the Trout Inn (of Inspector Morse fame). We had a wonderful dinner, and of course topped off with some English pudding. I watched a culinary tour of England on the television last night, and there are a few more English foods I have to have before I leave. Unfortunately so many of the "native" dishes are centered around the north of England, so I will have to do with the southern imitation. Of course I have to find a chip shop for fish and chips, perhaps something with forced rhubarb in it, and some Liverpool Scouse. I think I will be able to do without the tripe and blood pudding.
It is just after 10 p.m. now, and tomorrow is the first race day of the regatta. Our first start is at 1 p.m. tomorrow with two races scheduled. All remaining race days start at noon. The Masters Category will be split into two fleets because of the 100 or so entrants. I have drawn the red fleet for tomorrow. I got to check in with a few friends that I have not seen since last year, which is really nice. It is kind of funny with the Laser Masters Worlds, it does not really matter what part of the world you are in, once you get in the club, it all seems the same, same sailors, same process, etc.
The workers here at the hotel are extremely nice and helpful, by far the best customer service I have seen since being in England. Most of the people seem nice and polite, but not particularly interested in helping another person. This country is really in conflict about the metric system. All the road signs are in standard, miles and mph, but the directions and so forth are all in metric. The fuel consumption is miles per gallon, but the petrol (gasoline) is a little over a pound a liter. Very confusing, not sure if temperatures are in farenheit or celcius.
Yikes, laptop charger just burned out, so this might be it for the week for me. Will have to see what I can do.
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