Page 39 - jan2024

January 2024 January 2024
Too late to get an automatic renewal, I was forced to do the whole week-long With my complementary flip-flops, I returned to the pool. It was 24 metres long by
First Aid Course again back in the UK. The only one available was in Wareham. 5 around 8 metres wide with a low wall containing it. The water from the pool was
men and one woman (who happened to live in Bere Regis !!!). cascading gently over the sides and into a stainless steel grating. There was
decking with tables and chairs (covered on the day I was there) where customers
By the end of the week of could sit and lounge and chat on warmer sunnier days.
blowing air into rubber
casualties – and discovering Looking around me, the city rose above the building in all directions, creating a
that Sarah and I had a lot in spectacular urban backdrop. The café and the restaurant upstairs used to be the
common, (both being
involved in Matters Nautical)
we concluded that “ we liked
the cut of each other’s jib” –
as us seafarers say.

While I was swanning around
the Northern Hemisphere in
Posh Boats including 30 metre
Sailing sloops Bermuda to
Norway.**, Sarah was doing
her own thing, rescuing dogs
and people daft enough to fall of cliffs, along with 6-week projects teaching locals
how to protect their own marine environments in the Indian Ocean.

** this delivery was because the Captain was on leave. A day out from Bermuda,
the engineer (a Norwegian soldier) advised me that I was sleeping on 18,000 Victorian viewing gallery and now had a
rounds of 9mm ammunition and the owner wanted to get rid of 5000 rounds. wonderful view of the pool. On the other
side, a curtain of bamboos had been
Fortuitously, we had flat calm conditions in our part of the North Atlantic, 3 planted. The whole place gave a feel of
handguns, a rifle, plenty of empty beer cans and ample string. 30 metres was quality and a great deal of thought must
chosen as a testing distance to shoot at. 200 rounds later my pistol accuracy have gone into the planning.
became reassuring vis-à-vis a stand off with the ever-present possibility of
encounters with pirates when in the proximity of Azores. I quickly got into the pool to swim my mile
requiring 67 lengths. It was a most enjoyable
As it happened, our only encounter with potential danger was 40 NM from the swim. The water heated to a comfortable 23
Island of Horta in the Azores Archipelago. Tootling along under engine in our 30 degrees centigrade, felt gentle and less
metre yacht, the foul smell of a whale’s breath caught our attention. 60 metres on chlorinated than most pools and I was told later that it was because of the
our starboard beam the fin of a blue whale appeared seemingly on a parallel special filtration system used; only a third of the normal chlorine was added. The
course and similar speed. Further observation noted that our respective courses pool had a rustically tiled base with an unusual shade of blue very much in
were closing quietly. keeping with the general ambiance of the place.
Whilst there are strict Rules of precedence explained in the International Collision The depth was 1.2 metres throughout and I heard later that it was specifically
Regulations, they do not encompass who gives way to whom when it comes to designed that way so that lifeguards were not required to the man the pool. The
encounters with whales. We decided to maintain our Course and Speed (so did pool itself was not the old one recycled but entirely newly built on the same site.
the Whale). As the courses got closer we estimated that a) the whale was 35-40
metres in length and b) it was more manoeuvrable than we were so we decided I completed my mile in around 27/28 minutes whilst Diana snapped away with her
to maintain our course and speed. As the gap decreased to 30 metres the whale camera. It was pure heaven and wonderful to swim in such splendid surroundings.
turned sharply towards us, dived under the boat to become visible under the Now it was time to sample the Jacuzzi situated at the far end of the pool. I joined
surface on our port side, while its tail was still visible on our starboard side. A tragic a couple of ladies and a gentleman who had just become members but

26 39