It is Thursday and Shell has had a tough week.
There is no need to go over details, we have all had one of those weeks where there is an accumulation of events and decisions that make you question where you re, why you are there, and how someone else’s decisions can ruin a week.
“Our lives are not all interconnected. That theory is a crock. Some people truly do not need to be here.”
Bret Easton Ellis
I am thankful for the support she has, those few good people who provide a shoulder and perspective.
I am also thankful for wine, which offers its own comfort.
A text from a friend who is also in need of a comforting beverage and we all head to dinner.
Tonight’s wine –
2021 Massolino Langhe Nebbiolo (Piedmont, Italy)
Elegance and balance. A good Nebbiolo is superior to a cheap Barolo or Barbaresco. Raspberries and flowers on the nose. A good wine that is a genuine expression of the grape.
2018 Frescobaldi Castel Giocondo Brunello di Montalcino (Brunello, Italy)
Blackberries and floral notes on the nose. A little weak on the palate. By no means a poor wine, but you expect more from a Brunello, even an inexpensive one like this.
It is Friday and we are heading to Nikki Beach to take the OC2 out for a paddle. After some confusion surrounding fitting the ama, we are good to go.
There is one surf beach in all of Dubai and it happens to be Nikki Beach. There is a nasty shore break but we bravely head out. I am supremely confident we will manage the tough conditions despite Rachelle’s concerns. She accepts my decision with complete trust.
“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”
Ernest Hemmingway
We are soon being pummelled by the relentless waves. At one point Shell turns around to ask me what the plan is. Her timing was impeccable.
The water rushes out just as a bigger than usual breaker forms. It is towering above her and she is facing me. Before I can tell her to turn around it breaks on top of her. Hammering her into the sand and taking her clean off her feet.
“I looked upon the sea, it was to be my grave”
Mary Shelley
She is facing the beach as the next one takes her offer her feet again. I tell her to turn around so she can see the breakers coming but they are too frequent and she is just getting belted.
For some reason my solution to her situation is to just shout louder to turn around. Each time she is knocked over I shout louder to turn around. On reflection I can see why this not working, but at the time, I failed to grasp why it was unproductitve.
“Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives.”
Oscar Wilde
Eventually there is a respite and Shell declares she does not want to continue the effort.
She certainly looks battered despite my shouting.
We pack the OC2 away and have a shower. Head home.
Shell has a nasty cut on her foot. I consider shouting at it but I am starting to think yelling at problems does not help.
We wash the sand out of the cut and put a bandaid on and head to do the groceries.
I spend the rest of the day reading and preparing dinner.
We open a wine and I am left to muse the effectiveness of shouting to make things happen.
“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.”
Christopher Hitchens
Tonight’s wine –
NV Gazela Vinho Verde (Vinho Verde, Portugal)
These green wines with some spritz are the easiest drinking. Blended vintage, great acidity and plenty of flavour. Sometimes you don’t need all the fancy stuff.
Saturday morning and we are up early and heading to Ras Al-Khaimah. The same group that runs the canoe club in Dubai has an OC6 in Ras Al-Khaimah.
There are eight of us altogether so I end up in an OC1.
We head out through the lake into the ocean. There is not much swell but the OC1 was tippy.
The OC6 left a good ten minutes before me and I am surprised to be gaining on it. It is a team of local ladies with Shell sitting at two.
We head out around the island and the swell gets worse. I am on a different OC1, an old Pegasus and it is constantly ready to tip me in. I make it into flat water and we swap out the crew.
I am exhausted when we get back to the beach.
Shell is quick to get heading home. I get the sense she didn’t enjoy the paddle and she confides the ladies in the boat were social paddlers who enjoy a chat and don’t put much effort in. Reading between the lines I am guessing Shell carried the boat for most of the 15km’s. It is little wonder she is exhausted.
“We were all feeling that bit shagged and fagged and fashed, it having been an evening of some small energy expenditure.”
Anthony Burgess
We head home with little energy to do anything.
Read. Eat last nights left overs and go to bed.
Sunday morning and we are taking the OC6 out with the Dubai crew. We are one short, so only five in the boat.
We launch from the same treacherous beach as Friday, but the swell is half what it was two days ago.
We drive out into the head win and a run in tide. There is a small swell and the going is tough but good fun.
As soon as we turn back, with the wind at our back and the tide dragging us in, the boat starts catching the runners. This is paddling at its most fun. Stroking out with minimal effort until the six calls the power on and the swell picks you up. The bout glides for 15-20 meters as you work hard to stay on the runner.
The boat and the ocean in harmony, it feels like you are floating.
“My soul is full of longing
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
for the secret of the sea,
and the heart of the great ocean
sends a thrilling pulse through me.”
We head back out to do it again.
Great fun.
Home for some reading.
I have finished The Catcher in the Rye. I have started Down and Out in London and Paris by Orwell and Social Ecology by Murray Bookchin.
Both good reading.
Bed early. The grind tomorrow.
We have a visitor next weekend, Jol.