Yacht Week Day 1: First Impressions
The day was finally here, it was officially the first day of Yacht Week. I woke up with a smile on my face, without even saying a word to anyone, I could feel the energy in our room. All the time waiting, all the preparation, and all the time spent talking about it had finally come to an end. Not only was it the beginning of our sailing adventure, it was also the 4th of July. It was time to head to our the port, meet our Australian roommates, and board our boat.
For those unfamiliar to “The Yacht Week,” let me explain the concept: gather your best 6-12 friends, select a destination (British Virgin Islands, Croatia, Greece, Thailand, Turkey, or Italy), select a boat (Monohull or Catamaran Sailboat), and get ready to have one of the best weeks of your life. You’ll be sailing around to various Islands with 70 other boats from all over the world. Both day and night, you’ll find events catered to “The Yacht Week” group upon arrival to each location. These aren’t your average events… ranging from circular yacht parties in the middle of the sea, to a day-time White themed party at a private club, to a massive party island (literally the whole island is a club) . Each day’s experience surpasses the previous one; it’s truly unforgettable.
Yacht Week was always a dream of mine, but it wasn’t until Brandon began planning that I couldn’t pass on a true Jimboweekend! Our crew quickly formed; a guy that looks like Thor named Colby, a business man named Dan, an adventure seeking dude named Brandon, and myself. The only problem was that Yacht Week requires at least 6 people per boat with an even 50% – 50% guy-girl ratio (sometimes 60% – 40%). Our dilemma was quickly solved when we meet 4 beautiful Australians online (yes, we really met them online). We teamed up to form a complete crew and selected Week 28 in Croatia ending with Ultra Music Festival. It was finally time to meet our Aussie roommates.
We arrived at Marina Kastela just north of Split, Croatia at approximately 11:30am and were stoked to begin the adventure. I said a quick prayer:
“Dear God, please let these 4 Australian girls be who they say they are… and not 4 old men named Seth, Tony, Diego, and Pete.” ~James
Before I could even finish my prayer, we walked past a small cafe and saw four women who looked just like the Australians we met online. It was Jess, Sarah, Emma, and Amy. We exchanged hugs and immediately began swapping stories of the week’s previous European travels. Dan, Brandon, Emma, and Amy made a quick trip to the grocery store across the parking lot; they returned with enough booze to kill a baby whale, limes, olives, an orange, and 2 snickers bars. The only thing left was to do was find our skipper: Max. As time passed, we quickly began to find out just how tired both our groups were. The girls had just left a 3 day music and were exhausted just like us… our crew was meant to be together.
A good looking southern gentleman in his late twenties approached our table and said:
“Hey, is there a Brandon Mendoza at this table?” ~Max
“Yeah! That’s me” ~Brandon
“I’m Max, I’ll be your skipper for the upcoming week.” ~Max
“Awesome, we’re stoked to have you with us, we got the best crew!” ~Brandon
“Yeah we’re really excited about it, but before we get going, we just wanted to show our appreciation for picking to sail with us. We got you this a bottle of Captain to enjoy along the trip. Cheers man!” ~Dan
“That’s great. I really appreciate it, I think we’ll enjoy this one together. It’s my last week as a Skipper before I head to Grad School in Chicago. Let’s make it a good one!” ~Max
(Our crew later finished that bottle within 30 minutes after opening on day 5. Half the bottle was used on body shots with our neighboring boat, the other half was poured down Max’s throat from the neighboring female Irish skipper)
We knew Max was going to be great addition to team. Boat preparation began by loading our booze, gear, and snicker bars on board. Eventually it came time to tie our flags to one of the vertical mast lines… this is when we began to tarnish our reputation with the Aussies. Months before the trip, we agreed that the Aussie flag would go on top of our ship. “Ladies first,” was the comment that made us submit… but when it came time to hang the flags, our egos (like the flag) was just too big. Along with the fact that our skipper was American (apparently the Captain’s flag goes on top) and it was the fourth of July, you can see what flag ended up on top. I could tell the Aussies weren’t that excited about it. Although they didn’t say much about it, I could imagine what they were thinking: “typical Americans.”
Below the American flag we flew an Australian flag, a Red Bull Flag (from our sponsorship), a Washington State Flag (Go Cougs!), a Legion of Boom Seattle Seahawks Flag, and a Milwaukee Bucks Flag.
(To address all of the Green Bay faithful, it’s not my fault I was forced to fly with a Seattle Flag. Simply stated, people from Seattle are just like their football team; sly, cunning, and borderline unethical. Neither Brandon, Dan, or Colby can recall the following conversation, but I remember making an agreement before that trip: we agreed that they wouldn’t bring a Seahawks Flag and I wouldn’t bring a Green Bay Packers Flag. I now knew what the Aussies felt like, “typical Seattle fans.”)
Since we always seemed to push the limits, we weren’t done tarnishing our reputation with our new found Aussie friends. We decided to wear our American Flag Speedos that were sent to us from another sponsor: Shinesty. The ladies were not impressed with our “huge” patriotic attitudes. But what did we care? It’s not like first impressions mattered, we weren’t stuck on a boat with them for an entire week or anything… ahh… I mean, wait, we were. Sorry, girls… (Emma we know you secretly liked it though)
We cracked a bottle of champagne, made a mimosa toast, and left the harbor screaming, “MERICA! WOOOO!!!”
Eventually we changed back into our real swim-suites and enjoyed a casual afternoon sail along the Adriatic Sea before we settled into the first dock. Thanks to Captain Max, we arrived early and got a great docking spot for the evening party. Our crew showered up, changed, and got ready for our first dinner together.
Being the gentleman that we are, we cooked the ladies a fantastic Fettuccine Alfredo feast with a Caprese Salad. They accepted our apology for being a bit out of control in the morning. After a few rounds of a Brandon’s favorite drinking game, “Rapid Recall,” we left for the party.
The club set up an exclusive party for The Yacht Week. Within the first minute of arriving to the party, Brandon bought 8 Vodka Redbulls. Before we could even hand them to the girls, we realized they had disappeared from site. Although we were bummed we lost our Aussie Besties, we now each had two drinks and were ready to party!
The energy for The Yacht Week can’t be described. Every single person was outgoing, friendly, and ready to have the time of their lives. Our group had quickly become separated within the mob of people and bounced around to meet other crews that were sailing on our route. After the first hour at the party I had met people from at least 10 different countries.
The energy of the party continually evolved, the music grew louder, and the drinks went down faster. Since I had lost my friends, I found myself hanging out a variety of different people through the night. They would soon become good friends over the upcoming week. Here’s a few pictures of the different groups of people I met that night
(Ironically it became a theme and nobody quite remembered each other after a crazy night of partying. Most of the friendships were reformed in the AM)
Here are the different groups of people that I bounced into that night (all celebrating the 4th of July regardless of which country they were from).
I remember sneaking away from the party somewhat early around 2am with the intent to get a good night’s rest. I planned on sleeping in the dinghy at the front of the boat (a small inflatable boat for docking/maneuvering purposes). By the time I got back, someone was already cuddled up inside; it turns out the Aussies and I had quite similar mindsets. It was going to be a long and crazy week, we thought it’d be best to get at least one decent night of sleep. I made my way to the inside only to find the 100+% degree heat a bit stuffy in Dan and I’s bedroom. With a pillow and blanket, I slept under the stars on top of the boat. Hugging my 1 liter water bottle as I closed my eyes, I dreamt of all the craziness that was about to happen this week… the only problem was that the craziness never stopped. Within an hour or so the party spread to the boat dock… our neighbors never slept a single minute… not a single minute… We all attempted sleep but ended up getting little to none. It barely mattered anyway, we were like kids the night before Christmas; too excited for the next morning.
Stay tuned for more updates as we search for a Doctor to inspect Dan’s arm and leg since his injuries from the scooter accident had become too swollen and disturbing to ignore.
~Jimbo