So tonight we, the racing crew of the racing yacht "Hot Prospect", raced our way into another enviable finish - this time we were in 1min15sec before the race is called. I suggested to the captain that he rechristian the boat "8:59" for our precision and fortunately, he laughed.
The real revelation of the night was when we finally rounded the damned buoy at Devonport and then the insidious buoy at Westwall we were crossing the harbour to the malevolent buoy at ???(I forget) I looked down (it was dark) and there was a small bird cruising along in the tide current toward the city. It was obviously not a duck and so I figured it might be a penguin! Hey, why not? I'm in New Zealand, right?
It turns out it was indeed a penguin - what the Kiwis call a "Little Blue Penguin". I did not get any pictures tonight by this one from wikipedia gives a good idea of what it was:
A penguin!
The crew was more interested in the improving wind conditions. When I started exclaiming about seeing a penguin they all basically said, "That's right, a little penguin." and went back to trimming sails and pontificating about the seriously evil current working in our favor.
A penguin!
(I should note that the buoy adjectives are chosen simply for entertainment. I'm really enjoying sailing and racing and would gladly sail right through the gates of hell if the boat was obtaining 7.4 knots at the time. One tends to let the mind wander when coasting in the lee of the NZ navy boats while fighting an incoming tidal current.)
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2 comments:
So weird! Some one was telling me in the last couple of days that when I go to NZ I was going to have to ship them a penguin... Of course I said "A penguin in NZ ya right"...
And now you make a posting about it. I'm beginning to think we have a deeper connection that just biking buddies ;)
robl
Such cute little penguins! Love your stories... MOM
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