I go to the windsurfing center for Chris Schill, the company I signed up with. (There have a separate cove for beginners.) I sense a familiar theme: I am the only customer and will be the only customer that week. Moreover, the weekly barbeque mentioned in the brochure has been discontinued.
Interestingly enough, in the beginners' cover there is another windsurfing company called Club Mistral. They have a fair amount of attendees. About half of them are women.
(Note: I initially tried to sign up with Mistral but it got too difficult. Like Chris Schill, Mistral is a German company. Like Chris Schill, their e-mail English wasn't very good. Being the thorough person that I am I had a lot of questions. Could I get my own room? Could I get a queen bed? Were there any mosquitos? Eventually, I think they got tired of my questions and quit responding.)
The wind in the beginner cove is very gusty and I'm falling a lot. The people from Mistral all appear to be laughing and having fun, probably from all the nonstop partying. I feel like I'm outside a chic club where they refuse to admit me.
Or maybe I'm just feeling kvetchy because of a lack of sleep as indicated in Figure 2 below.
Figure 2: Five-Day Sleep Deprivation Chart
9/14: Red Eye Flight from Venezuela to Athens
*Problems:
- shrieking babies
- coughing Spaniards
- time-zone change
*Upshot: 4 hours of broken, drug-and-alcohol induced sleep
9/15: First Night in New Time Zone
*Problems:
- wired till 1:00 am
*Upshot: woke for breakfast at 9:00 am next day, then back to bed till 2:00 pm
9/16: Second Night in New Time Zone
*Problems:
- mysterious full-body itching attack
- 2 mosquitos in room
- racing thoughts
*Upshot: 3 hours fractured, anxiety-ridden sleep
9/17: 18-hour Ferry Ride
*Problems:
- bunk too small for a 5-year old
- poor ventilation/second-hand cigarette smoke
- wheezing roomate
- met attractive Russian woman on deck at 2:30 am
*Upshot: no sleep, no action
