Friday Night Lights

Today I interviewed some yachties from Canada. Donna and Mike sail an Oyster 56, Baccalieu III, and have Andy and Ray aboard as crew. The foursome joined the ARC World Cruise in September in Darwin, Australia for this “leg” to St. Lucia. They say they enjoy rallies, but indicated they like their time sailing individually a little more.

I hooked up with Anthony George today, too. He’s the 32-year-old guy that works on Ascension and is home on leave to visit his 8-year-old son, Teejay. Anthony lives in Thompson’s Hill, but was going to meet me at Rosemary Plain, as directions are impossible to his house. I’ve done well with directions considering most roads do not have street names until trying to drive to Rosemary Plain. I ended up at Anthony’s house by following a shuttle driver--I even got a little lost driving home.

Anthony built his house in 2005 and is in the process of finishing the inside and putting up a wall to prevent further erosion from the front of his property. The only room fully finished is the bathroom, which has a giant bathtub and low-flush toilet. The modern designed kitchen is nearly complete, as well. His 20-year-old girlfriend, Rickie, was there with her niece and Tommy-Lee—a 17-year-old who was also on the RMS. Rickie is Tommy-Lee’s aunt, yet they are only three years apart. It seems that everyone is someone’s aunt, uncle or half-brother on the island, which brings me to another point: free love.

It almost seems a traditional, faithful marriage is taboo on the island. I mentioned this to Rickie after Tommy-Lee explained his family to me. Not one person I have met has only been with one partner, yet Rickie says that the divorce rate on the island is less than 50 percent. I am going to have to follow up with some stats on this.

Another interesting thing on the island is that there are four deaf/mute people that live here. I met one, Calvin, at Anthony’s house. I’d say Calvin is thirty-something with fairer skin than most Saints. He is on the three-day workweek, which is the welfare system here. The government pays people to clean up the island and for other service work. Those on three-day do not get paid unless they work. Calvin works other days as a handyman. Anthony says he is a good worker, but by the time I arrived at half-four, Calvin was drinking beer and Vodka and cokes. He was smashed by half-five.

Apparently, the four deaf/mute (Calvin is only mute) are from different parts of the island and from different families, so there is no explanation for their condition. Anthony said three of the four went to England as part of their special needs education, but the fourth person was a Jehovah Witness and the parents wouldn’t let the child go. Calvin and the others know sign language, but pantomime with others to communicate. Calvin was quite efficient at getting his message across, until he became drunk. The main thing he was communicating was a fantasy that he had been in the military as a sniper. He showed us his camouflage jacket, army green rucksack and tracking an imaginary target with his fingers as if holding a rifle. The others said the only time he has ever left the island was for a field trip with school.

It seems that the community does not ostracize people with special needs or deficiencies; instead they encourage them when appropriate and tolerate any other behavior—similar to the way an extended family would. I noticed this on the RMS with a slow guy named Eugene. Saints cheered and encouraged Eugene more than anyone else on when it was his turn for Deck Quoits.

Once Calvin became too drunk, no one made fun of him. Instead a friend just drove him away—presumably home.

I met Tara, Tom and Tara’s four girlfriends out at dinner. Everyone in the party is 24, or just turning 24. The girls were dressed in black skimpy dresses and stiletto heels and smoking Marlboro Lights. It is obvious these girls are part of the wealthier class on the island, and most studied college in the UK—one is finishing her Master’s. This is the first night they’ve all been out in quite a while, and the first time they’ve met Tom.

After dinner, everyone went to Bayside, a recently opened discothèque near the wharf. The dance club seems to be one of the most popular places on the island for younger people. Typical of many dance clubs, people arrived around 11 p.m. and left well after 1 a.m. Tara’s parents were also there dancing and many yachties were out on the deck socializing with each other.

I met Shane Crowie and plan to interview him next week on what it means to be a Saint. I chose him before I left because of an interview of him after a rock fall incident in August 2008. Watch “Major Rock Fall” at: www.capricorn-studios.com/movies_01.htm. This guy is really funny.

Drinking and driving is a problem on the island and there were several cops in the car park watching people. One guy in a helmet trying to mount a motorcycle fell and dropped his motorcycle. The cops stood where they were and watched him. Several people helped him pick it up and the guy failed in a second attempt to mount the bike. The cops then came over and helped him push it to the side. I don’t know what happened after that.

After the bar closed, half the partygoers walked passed the cops down along the wharf. Tara informed me that this is the “after party.” Her girlfriends said this is where they sit on the ground and sober up before driving home, yet most of them were dancing and started drinking the cold beers Tara bought from the bar. Others were gathered under a tree smoking pot and everyone seemed to have their car radios on competing with other “after partygoers” with the loudest music.

Since there are so many single-lane roads and high cliffs on my route home, I decided it would be prudent for me to go ahead and drive home while people were at the after party.

TDx