Walking the Opua docks there are boats of every shape and size. Boats with sterns shaped like canoes to shed any nasty wave. Boats with beautiful floors, two wheels and swim ladders intended for climbing up while at anchor. Boats with classic graceful arcuate shaped bows reflecting racing rules and design of the 1900's and trendy modern boats with almost vertical bows. Everyone has a passionate owner who will defend it in a loud voice.

The "visitors" lounge with internet and showers is the second most popular meeting place for passionate owners after the laundry. Before the large rally arrived recently the corners of the lounge were occupied by a variety of sailors. Children playing on bean bag chairs in the corner, just out of college sailors plotting their next moves and middle aged sailors who have sold everything to be here and are just squeaking by. There has been a sense on camaraderie and support in the lounge. Some of that drained away with the arrival of a large yacht round the world rally.p as 25 boats arriving from Fiji in one day.

My first encounter with the rally sailors went badly. A friend had pointed me to one of the rally boat ps as a couple they had met in their travels. I realized I was sitting next to the skipper of the boat so asked if they knew my dear friend. The skipper turned to me and said yes they had gotten an email from her. Then he said right "you are on a MONOHULL" and turned away to brag about how he had skipped ahead of 39 boats to be hauled today. This attitude was a big shift from the stories of the former Coast Guardsman who realized he loved big waves in the ocean and went on to drive the pilot boats in and out of San Francisco as a way to join is obsession with waves and a need to earn a living. Later I returned to the lounge to upload my talks to the cloud. Uploading it protects me from some computer calamities. The sailor next to me starts to complain about other sailor in the rally and his sails. He is clearly going head to head with "you sail a monohull" . After whining for a while he pulls out his phone to look at Instagram and finds the video of a newly designed 50 foot boat. He comments: it is ok but you would only like it if you cannot afford the 55. Time for me to leave for my monohull.

On the way out I stop to talk with the oyster farmers driving the most today practical boats in the harbor. Each morning they arrive with crates of one year old oysters ready for market. Powered by two large outboard these boat are a perfect workspace. In the morning the forklift can drive right up to the side and grab the crates of oysters to load on the truck. In between loads the three men relax with their feet in tall rubber boots hanging in the water. More comfortable around the water than either of the rally sailors will ever be. We chat about oysters and I ask why they have four huge neat pyramids of oysters on deck at the end of the day. The oysters are the right size but the factory decided they needed to be fattened up. Oysters are big around Christmas here. The oyster will have to be returned to the fabric bags and put back into the water. They think there were not enough workers to open the oyster today.

There are several oyster boats in the harbor. My favorite is only big enough for one crate, is bright red and has a snail painted on the side. It is called Doug and is a monohull.

Karl is improving but resting as his leg improves... slowly so missed all this fun.