1.02.2010


The Running of the Dragon is a New Years Eve tradition in Oriental, the idea is to touch the dragon as it goes by, to assure good luck in the coming year. I touched it and wished for warmer weather. This year it was at 8pm only, due to some 'hooligans' who vandalized the teeth last year during the midnight running. Hard to believe that in a town of 900, the hooligans were never apprehended. We went with a group of new friends and had a great time.
New Years Day found us out in the cold again, this time for the annual "Instead Of Football Regatta". Sailing on Bristol Star, a Bristol 41 belonging to new friends Kevin and Louise. It was our first time to go racing, ever, and Kevin and Louises' first time to have their new boat out of the slip. With a crew of nine, you would think we would have paid closer attention to the race, instead we drank Manhattans and rum (not together), had cheese and crackers and fudge. The great thing about this regatta, is that the mandatory skippers meeting was at M&M's after the race ended and then, over big steaming cups of soup, they drew the winners from a hat. That's my kind of racing.

2 comments:

Anne and Chris said...

Oooh, that does sound good. We've never raced, and I've never understood the attraction of getting your boat way to close to someone elses, only so you can get to the finish line first. Everyone gets to go to the party anyway. We did meet a guy at a bar (where else!) on Little Farmers Cay who had been on four Olympic sailing teams. They had a cat, so he's still sailing faster than us monohulls, but that's OK!

Happy New Year! Anne and Chris

John, Roberta and Freedom said...

I hope you touched the dragon for us...a little luck goes a long way! There does not seem to be a shortage of happenings in Oriental!
Glad you are staying warm...