Courses, cooking & scrum

Kris has oodles of experience sailing, but no formal qualifications. I was pleasantly surprised when he agreed to do the paperwork, and get his Day Skippers ticket with me in Latsi.

The local sailing school is run by some very helpful and friendly folk. They’ve worked out a schedule to suit Kris and me, and allowed Aidan to attend too. Aidan actually did the exam for the radio license, and he passed, but he can’t get a license as he is under 16! He did do a near perfect practice Mayday call, and that ability could also be vital one day (although we hope not).

I look forward to a boat full of qualified skippers by the end of next week, at least on paper!

A highlight of the last few weeks has been the cooking. We agreed up front that we would all take turns, so Aidan is learning to cook. Me too, truth be told. I’ve been so spoiled for so long, that my cooking skills are quite diminished (and they weren’t that great to start with).

Aidan has made pesto pasta, burgers and spaghetti bolognese. Last night, he made his bolognese sauce from scratch, chopping up his own garlic and onions etc. it was an excellent effort, and Aidan seems to really enjoy the achievement. My own best effort has probably been the sirloin with portobello mushrooms and onion sauce. We are eating very well, and buying lots of fresh local produce.

The nearest supermarket is in Polis, about 20 minutes ride by bicycle. Aidan and I go off every few days to replenish the larder, so we’re getting plenty of exercise. We even cycled to Argaka, which is along a charming coastal road past Polis, 20 kms return trip. Kris misses out on these trips because he isn’t keen on riding bicycles – says his butt isn’t made for the saddle!

We are suddenly running out of time. We want to leave Cyprus in 3 weeks for Greece, and we still have our course to complete next week, and we want to install a hot water system. I’ve put up a basic scrum board to help us focus on the important tasks – will report back on how it works for the family. So far it is just a backlog, with a few tasks highlighted to be worked on this week. I’ll report back on our progress as agile sailors next post!