On the Horizon

It’s been over three months since I’ve set foot on a boat, and what an adventure land life is… I missed New York’s ethnic markets so much before I’d left on my Caribbean voyage; but to tromp through China Town in the dog days of summer, or to get in a taxi cab even, is a full-frontal olfactory assault. My eyes sear from the smells walking down the street and my sinuses have crawled into the back of my head seeking refuge. I’m afraid my adenoids have gone on sabbatical, never to return. I’m not attuned to this city life anymore and I’m feeling slightly out of step…

Friends have offered me catering work, job referrals, even the opportunity to buy out my former employers’ gourmet food business. But I feel like a ghost in the material world – the light beckons me, and that light is the sun reflecting off of the clear, cool waters of the Caribbean. I can’t possibly imagine doing anything else… Land is nice, sea is better…

Through the wonders of internet (Skype and email), I’ve been keeping in touch with my yachty friends from the Caribbean who are now scattered about the globe; the Mediterranean, Adriatic, South Pacific and New England. They’ve been asking when I’ll be able to return to the boat world and keeping me abreast of their adventures…

I’d met a gal in St. Martin she was one of my roommates at the crew house and had come from South Africa to join a yacht as a stewardess. She had every proof of employment from the yacht, but had to go to Barbados to get her B1-B2 visa before she started her position. Upon arriving in Barbados, she was denied her work visa because the consulate said that she didn’t have enough ties to South Africa and was afraid she wouldn’t return. An unfortunate predicament for many South Africans yachties that I’d met along the way… To add insult to injury, upon returning to St. Martin, her passport was taken by authorities at the airport because they said she only had a single entry visa. They gave her two weeks to remain in the country and informed her that she could not have her passport back until she was leaving…

The crew house and yachty circuit was abuzz with her dilemma. We were brainstorming on what we could do to get her passport back, get her a work visa, etc. It’s St. Martin, there had to be an official that we could bribe… The boat she was to be employed on couldn’t pull any strings and couldn’t employ her. I left for Antigua and my friend’s day of departure back to South Africa was close at hand… So, I was thrilled to get an email from her recently that she had gotten a job as a decky aboard another yacht. The captain was able to get her passport back and secure her a B1-B2 visa for the trip to Florida, as well as a Shengen visa for the Mediterranean. She’d just taken some time off and been traveling around England and Italy and sounded like she was having a great time!

Some friends that I had made in Grenada and sailed back up to St. Martin with are based on a boat in Annapolis and they came up and spent a week with me here in New York. A few weeks later they sailed into Sag Harbor and dropped off a charter. I met up with them and as we cruised out to the yacht on the dinghy, the wind in my face, I felt at home again…

Over the course of the past month my knee has gotten much, much better and after an MRI, the doctor has said that I don’t need surgery! I’ve been doing physical therapy two days a week as well as a litany of exercises every day at home. Don’t be fooled, p.t. does not stand for physical therapy, it stands for PAIN and TORTURE! I go back to the doctor tomorrow and am hoping that he will tell me that I can go back to work soon…

I won’t be rejoining the boat in the Mediterranean. Unfortunately they couldn’t hold my position open indefinitely and so I’ve been replaced (not that I can be replaced, but apparently, I can)… Ahhh, but life goes on. I’ve already had inquiries as to my availability from other boats that I worked on in the Caribbean that are now on the East Coast of the United States. And from what I’ve heard through other yachties, there is just as much work available here as there was down in the Caribbean. So, as soon as I get the green light from the doctor I’m going to head down to Florida and meet with some crew agencies, walk the docs and frequent the local yachty haunts to inquire about work…

Mmmm, I can almost smell the salty air (and taste the cold beer)…

Suffice to say, my sea legs are gone. It's going to take some time to re-adjusting, but hopefully my next adventure won't be quite as harrowing as this previous season... No 30 foot seas, please. Been there, done that...

Well anyway, I know I’m a slacker of a blogger… But stay tuned, the next adventure of The Wayward Chef is just over the horizon!

NATHAN 54:12

This 4^th of July comes at a time when our country struggles with a war that has divided its people, a political crisis in the White House and growing racial and religious intolerance. But it’s comforting to know that even through these troubled times; the people of our great nation can put aside their cultural, political and religious differences and come together in unity to revel in one of America’s greatest pastimes; that of Competitive Eating.

And no, I don’t mean stuffing your face at the family barbeque, although I’m sure many of you were holding eating and drinking contests of your own. What I mean is the great, the history making, annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island.

I was tempted to enter myself, but as I’m working to restore my body to its pre-Caribbean luster, I’ve given up meat (temporarily, mind you), tobacco (permanently, god-willing), and alcohol (well, not really. I have to have one vice.). And despite my pleads and calls that the judges were being discriminatory, they weren’t willing to make an exception with zucchini’s and cucumbers in place of hotdogs for fear of inciting the already overheated, overweight, beer swilling, carnivorous mob that had gathered for this years event.

I did, however, make one exception to my newly adopted “healthy lifestyle” and sucked down a dog with onions, kraut and mustard while I stood among the unwashed masses and waited for the contest to begin. The hot dog hit my stomach like a rock and remained there the rest of the day as a gentle reminder that healthy living and highly processed meat byproducts just don’t mix.

Despite my inability to convince the judges to offer a vegetarian option for the contestants, the games went on… The crowd hopeful that 22-year old Joey Chestnut, of San Jose, California would break the 5-year reign of Japan’s Emperor of competitive eating, Takeru Kobayashi. The race was neck in neck as the contestants sucked down dog after dog. Chestnut was in the lead for the first half of the contest and the crowd roared, “Joey, Joey”. Kobayashi using the “Solomon Method” he developed in 2001, breaking each dog in half, eating the two halves at once, then dipping the bun in water and eating that, left Joey in the dust as Kobayashi downed each dog with Ninja-like precision and a nimble gullet. Once again, Kobayashi held on to his title with 53.75 hot dogs in 12 minutes. That’s roughly 10 lbs. of, ummm, "meat".

The average American consumes 115 lbs. of red meat per year. Kobayashi consumed 11.5% of the national average in just 12 minutes.

And the prize for winning the “International” Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest? Two cases of Nathan’s franks.

On second thought, maybe I really don’t need to eat meat. Ever, ever again…