Yacht Week Day 2: Almost Seizing the Night
T.S. Elliot once wrote, “Only those who will risk going too far, can possibly find out how far they can go.” If life hasn’t pushed you to your limit yet, go on “The Yacht Week,” I promise you’ll find your limit there… It was the 2nd day of Yacht Week, and day 10 of 17 of our European Vacation. The most rest we’d gotten up to this point was about 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep in Santorini. I could feel the years being taken away from my life with every night I forced myself to stay up.
It was still nighttime, and the party continued to go on well past 2am. I made a bed on the deck just as Brandon, Colby, and Dan came back on board. While pretending to sleep for the next few minutes, the guys talked about the party.
Colby came out from the kitchen with a fresh ball of mozzarella and said:
“Who’s hungry?” ~Colby
I was mesmerized by the thought of delicious cheese; I could no longer pretend to sleep. Grateful for the midnight snack, I offered up the water bottle I’d been snuggling in exchange for the italian cheese. After the cheese was finished, the guys drifted apart in search of a place to crash.
There I was, laying in a semi-conscious state under the night sky. A beach towel was the only thing separating me from the sailboat’s plastic goose-bump like surface. The mast towered over me as the boat gently rocked with the waves. An occasional gust of wind would sweep over the hull providing temporary relief from the night’s heat. Off to my right was a small metal railing that separated me from the Adriatic Sea beneath our boat. Although the setting wasn’t comfortable, it was somehow pleasant. My mind was peace. It’s difficult to be upset during Yacht Week, even when your next door neighbors keep you up the entire night. I listened to the commotion next door as I slowly faded in and out of consciousness. My dreams and reality began to blur as I painted a picture from what I heard. I imagined a group of rowdy white-collar workers celebrating their brief escape from “real life.” Their free-spirited attitudes allowed them to enjoy every moment that night. I could hear shot glasses slamming down on a table after each successful toast. Occasionally a cork would pop while champagne splattered over their deck. Just as they began calming down, they lowered their dinghy into the water, started the engine, and set out to explore the harbor. I awoke from a deep sleep when I heard them driving in circles just off our bow yelling, “I LOVE YACHT WEEK!” The small motor continued to rev as their love for Yacht Week now switched to their vocal love for specific drugs.
Due to our neighbors’s shenanigans, we struggled to get a decent night’s rest. I must have slept in 3 different spots that night. Ironically, Dan and I seemed to wake up looking for new places to sleep at exactly the same times. We’d wake up exhausted, annoyed, and uncomfortable in search a better spot. I passed by Dan on my way inside the boat as he was looking for a spot on the deck.
“… hey, you’re up man? How was the room down there?” ~James
“Too hot… how was the deck?” ~Dan
“Pretty uncomfortable… you’ll get a little bit of a breeze up here though.” ~James
“Alright, well… see you in the morning.” ~Dan
Eventually our crew began to rise just as our neighbors on our port side began settling into bed. Brandon made everyone eggs that morning. I remember someone saying, “Thanks Brandon, you didn’t have to do that.”
He responded with:
“I woke up feeling pretty good today, I figured there won’t be too many mornings that I can fully function, so today it’s my treat.” ~Brandon
The group smiled as we indulged in the food. The morning seemed oddly calm as other boats began to wake up. It was almost as if everyone “left it all on the field” during the first party; it was officially day number 2. Dan hobbled up from the kitchen in pain while holding a bottle of champagne and OJ.
“Who needs a mimosa? I need like 12 because my ankle is killing me.” ~Dan
“Yeah, how’s your foot doing from the crash?” ~Brandon
(Dan lifts his leg up to show the group)
“Dude, that looks terrible. It’s really swollen. Are you sure you didn’t break it?” ~James
“No clue, but who’s drinking with me” ~Dan
(We all looked at each-other, shrugged, and reached for a glass)
“Well boys, you can’t be drunk all day, if you don’t start in the morning. Here’s to Yacht Week.” ~Colby
“Cheers” ~Dan, Brandon, and James
Dan looked over across the boat to the starboard side where our other neighbors began to gather on their deck.
“Hey, you guys want some mimosas. We’re serving breakfast over here.” ~Dan
Two girls named Mary and Nayli came aboard to join our group. Before Dan could even get them a drink, Nayli gasphed and said:
“Are you alright? What happened to your arm? O my God, and your leg? What did you do? ~Nayli
“Yeah, I got hit by a car in Greece on a scooter. I kinda hurts… so if you know a doctor let me know, we may need to amputate my leg.” ~Dan
Before anyone could even say anything, Mary got up and yelled to her boat:
“Alex, get over here, we need you.” ~Mary
Call it a coincidence, but Alex was an ER Doctor from Cleveland, OH. Him and his buddy Kirk jumped on board to see what all the commotion was about. Dan went through the story again and explained what happened. In exchange for Alex’s expert advice, Dan agreed to give him 2 mimosas.
“hmm… does it hurt when I do this? How about here?” ~Alex
“It’s not to bad.” ~Dan
“ok, well I don’t think it’s broke… but it’s a pretty bad contusion. You’re ankle’s about twice as big as your other one, so all you can do is elevate, ice it, and take Advil. Other than that, I suggest you drink at least 1 beer every hour, for the rest of the week.” ~Alex
We laughed while Dan shook his head as if to say, “Yeah, I can do that.” Alex, Kirk, Mary, and Nayli became very close with us over the next few days. Here’s their crew pictured below:
The next few hours were spent joking with our new friends before we set sail for Palmižana. We arrived at the dock as it filled up with other boats from “The Yacht Week Ultra Route.” Our spot was halfway down the raft… right in the middle of the party. We’d be docking here for the next two nights.
We explored the harbor to find a small grocery store, a cafe, a set of restrooms, and showers for anyone at the port. On the other side of the island we found a small beach where we decided to spend the morning.
We searched for food while girls went back to the boat. There was a small restaurant by the beach where we bumped into Alex, Nayli, and Mary again. Looking at the menu we could barely understand what anything was. The menu was in a foreign language but had english words next each dish like, “Chicken,” or “seafood,” in some attempt to give us an idea of what it was. Just like every other time we’d gone out to eat, Dan pulled out his Iphone to show the waiter a translation stating that he could only eat “gluten free food.” The waiter replied:
“So, no bread” ~Waiter
“Well, no gluten, but gluten is in bread. My meal can’t have any gluten in it… can you do that?” ~Dan
“So, you can’t have bread…” ~Waiter
“You’re right, but gluten is what I’m allergic to. So my meal can’t have gluten.” ~Dan
“So bread is bad, yes?” ~Waiter
“hmmm, can I just get a bowl of olives?” ~Dan
“A bowl of olives? Ok, but with no bread?” ~Waiter
I went on to order whatever said “chicken” while Brandon and Colby asked the waiter for a good seafood dish. Sure enough, the waiter came back with a bowl full of olives along with bread… apparently he was confused. Brandon, Colby, and myself devoured the bread while Dan enjoyed his bowl of olives. It seemed like forever while we waited for our meals, it got to a point that I almost became sick. I felt as if I was swaying side to side even though everything was still; I hadn’t quite gotten my “sea legs” yet.
Our food eventually arrived and the only important detail is that this “quick snack” turned into a $160 meal for Brandon and Colby. We assumed the waiter went fishing for their meal. It was by far the freshest meal at the cafe. See what we mean:
Colby was smart enough to yell, “Dibs not the fish heads,” before Brandon could even respond. Being the Seattle Seafood lover that he is, Brandon ate both fish heads. We think the fish heads may have gotten to Brandon’s own head, because on the way home, his great navigation skills got us lost.
Eventually we made it back to the boat, got a quick nap in, showered, and jumped on a boat taxi heading to the day party at “Hula-Hula.”
We got dropped off at the Island of Hvar walked along the ocean front before we made it to Hula-Hula. The beach bar was located right off the water on a rock/concrete pier. Waves would occasionally splash over the rocks soaking anyone close enough to the water while rest of the party danced to the high-energy music.
I found myself hanging with Kirk from our neighboring boat the previous night. We explored the venue, got drinks, and made new friends. A super-sized mojito seemed to be the right drink for the hot temperature. After I received the drink, I met a girl named Reem. She was orignally from England but lived Dubai, this sounded all too familiar but I couldn’t remember why. We followed Reem to meet her other friends and that’s when it all clicked, I had met them the night before. After we spoke about the previous night, we were able to fill in the gaps and re-introduce ourselves. I offered to share my mojito since it came with 4 straws (even though I secretly wanted it all to myself). Over the next hour or so, I chatted with Sohpie, Reem, Tyson, and Charlotte about life, liberty, and the pursuit of pursing things. There were two other friends with them; one who was slightly more buzzed than the rest, and the other who was taking care of the slightly more buzzed one. The highlight of our conversation came when we watched their slightly more buzzed friend get soaked by a wave that came in. She may not have remembered it, but I sure did. After our chat, we became best friends forever (we would soon forget that we were BFF’s until met again the next night… it was a reoccurring theme).
Before I knew it, I realized that I hadn’t seen my friends in quite some time and began searching for them. Of course I started looking on the dance floor first since a remix of T-Swift’s “Shake it off” was playing (it’s my jam). I wandered through the crowd and around the club before I bumped into Sarah, Jess, Amy, and Emma.
Our conversation went something like this:
“James! Where have you been, we haven’t seen you in forever.” ~Amy
“Girls… I think I found my future wife, I don’t remember her name… I think it started with a ‘T’… or an ‘R’… something like that, but I can’t remember… anyway, I’m pretty sure it’s her. But have you seen the boys?” ~James
“Awwwwww” ~Jess
“James that’s so cute!” ~Sarah
“Good for you, you’ll have to introduce us to her later if you remember her name. Ahh… let’s see…. I’m pretty sure I saw the guys over by the DJ.” ~Emma
I began making my way back over the the dance floor. This time I looked over at the DJ booth, and there they were, the entire JimboWeekend crew was back stage partying with the DJ. They were pointing and shouting at me to join them.
Nobody knows how Dan got up there, but somehow our entire group was allowed up since Dan and DJ were now besties.
We left the party early in search of food, plus we still had a party to get to that night. Our dinner reservation wasn’t for another 2 hours so we decided to grab pizza by the slice instead. Our group sat in the main square and enjoyed the people watching as we finished our meal. This is when we really began to connect as a group. Here’s some pictures:
We bounced around to a few more bars after dinner waiting for the night party at “Carpe Diem.” The only memorable thing from the other bars was the “banger shot.” A few crew members were brave enough to take it on. This type of shot involves wearing an army helmet, getting smashed in the head with a heavy object, then drinking a tall glass of a tequila mixture. Brandon and I had done a similar shot earlier in the trip at Ios, Greece. Brandon was hit over the head with a fire extinguisher while I had a skateboard deck broken over my head… it’s a lawsuit waiting to happen…
Remember that quote from T.S Elliot I used earlier: “Only those who will risk going too far, can possibly find out how far they can go.” Well, I wasn’t willing to go any further after today. I knew the next party was going to be a blast, but I couldn’t keep pushing my body; I needed a night to rest.
The next party required another boat taxi to take you to an even more remote island which was made up of one club called, “Carpe Diem.” Seriously, the entire Island was a club. Even worse, the last boat taxi home would leave at 4 am to take you to Hvar, then leave Hvar at 4:30 to go back to our boat dock. Knowing this crew, they’d be out all night… and they were… Surely, I didn’t want to miss the party but I had to prepare for the rest of the week. I even remembered telling my future wife I’d meet her there, but not even “true love” could get me to go out.
Before I left, I got final consultation from Dr. Alex:
“So why can’t you go?? What are you symptoms?” ~Alex
“Ahh, I feel ok now, but I know I’m a bit sleep deprived, and if I keep pushing it, eventually I’m going to crash hard. I’d rather rest up for what’s ahead of us this week.” ~James
“Hmm, well me check something here…” ~Alex
(Alex began to take my pulse, feel my forehead, have me stick out my tongue and say “ahhhhhh”)
“Well, you look good to me. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” ~Alex
We both laughed but Alex understood that a night off might be exactly what I needed. The crew began their journey to “seize the night” at “Carpe Diem.” From what I heard, the Island was a magical oasis where all your dreams come true. Here’s a picture of Amy and Colby having a blast!
Upon my arrive back to the boat dock, I felt giddy while excitement overwhelmed my body; I was finally able to rest. I took a pillow and a few beach towels to make a bed in the dinghy at the front of the boat. Cuddling with a 1L bottle of water, I drifted off into a deep sleep while the rest of the crew partied their faces off.
Stay tuned for more updates as our crew gears up for “White Themed Party” on Day 3 of Yacht Week.
~Jimbo