Last Saturday I walked over to the Olongapo Cemetery to take race photos.  I didn’t get any race photos, but I did get some river photos that I like.

  The Kalaklan Gateway, one of several gateways into and out of Subic.  It is an odd experience; but one more of an issue for Filipinos than westerners.  I just walked through either way, any gate.   This is looking out from Subic towards Olongapo.

  The Olongapo side of the river

A boy and his small banca. 

A very reclusive scavenger.  Not far from here, around the point on the bay side is a public beach. There is a tower with a navigation light overlooking the bay entrance and it was there that I tried to go for photos.  But it was closed to the public and had a guard. 

This might be one of my favorite photos of the area. 

How many guys does it take to move one thin line?  These 5 plus 2 others.  You can see how they keep the sun off; they do look like terrorists!  But obviously they aren’t.  They were parading along single file holding the wire over their heads.  When they saw that I had taken out my camera, they preferred to pose.  At this point I had already crossed back into Subic and was on my way down Dewey Avenue back towards the yacht club. 

  Two of our favorites; Magnolia ice cream and San Miguel beer.  This was the distributor where we go to stock up on beer. 

Hi Everyone,

  These are just some recent, semi-related photos.  By the way, the photo with the sailboat Purpose Driven was an oxymoron because the image of the crew just sitting there waiting to do something was just the opposite of the boat’s name.  Oh well.

  I was testing the 6X zoom on the Canon.  The local police department was out for a morning jog in the heat.  The front of the group was smiling…..

  Back of the line needed help from their buddies.

Usually the police, (pulis here in the Philippines,) are on bicycles.  There were lots of people here over the long Easter holiday, but nothing needed crowd control which is what horses are usually for. 

  I guess their speed was being monitored.  Good guys with black hats!  Nice horses.

   Across Rizal Highway from the SBYC pony rides are now available. 

I’m taking a pass after my Chinese experience. 

These 2 kids don’t look like riding with be their thing.  The little girl in her pink Easter bonnet is adorable.

Anxious moms. 

My mother had a huge red bag and by the end of any outing everything no one wanted would be in that red bag; sweaters, you name it.  One home movie shows my mom with the loaded red bag and holding our  dog on a leash.  We were visiting Fort Ticonderoga in New York State.  My sister and I are skipping along unencumbered and my father is taking the home movie.  This image of the lady on the left loaded with bags reminded me of that.  Plus, when we were about the size of these kids,  it was my mother who took us for riding lessons. 

Yesterday morning one of the racing boats had its huge spinnaker flapping in the very little breeze. Maybe drying it out from yesterday’s race. 

The sail is designed to look like the Philippine flag.  The Philippine boat, Full Metal Jacket did win the Hong Kong to Subic race, but I honestly don’t know if that is it or not and I am honestly too lazy to walk over to the other dock to look.

Randal had his camera on the boat yesterday.  Here are some of the photos.  I think they still came in 6th of 8.  That seems to be their position everyday.

. Ray wolfe is on the left in Yellow. 

I think this is when they were just waiting for the race to start.  They have to wait for the wind to be in the correct direction; race rules,  and for there to be any wind at all.

What to do while you wait.  Ray and 2 of the Taiwanese crew members

Performing rap songs to fill the time.

  Oxymoron.  Get it?  One of the other sail boats in the same class.

Just waiting.

Here comes Jon Kerner. 

His Philippine wife had returned to school and Jon had been that morning to her high school graduation ceremony.

I believe Purpose Driven is the other half of the Taiwanese group.

One of the bigger boats racing along

Mandrake is one of the larger boats too.  They are our neighbors in SBYC. 

I don’t know if I would really like that.  I know I don’t like it when Doramac rolls though sailboats are supposed to and we try to avoid it.

Not a great photo, but these are the big boys, the Rolex race group.

Hopefully Randal will write up his racing experience.

This morning I was up at 5:30 because we had to be ready at 7 to move the Nagle’s boat to another boatyard where it would be painted.  Dave and Dorothy are in Hong Kong so Randal was asked to move the boat.  Since I didn’t know if my help would be needed I was ready to go too.  It’s about a half mile walk back from the boatyard, so I needed to be dressed for that kind of adventure.  My help wasn’t needed, but I did do a laundry and then made 6 peanut butter and jam sandwiches for Randal to take on today’s last race.  No food is provided and they are out there from 9am until almost 3pm because of the “no wind” problem that comes up mid-race.  I sent Randal off with a batch of brownies yesterday.  At 9am I loaded my camera, watercolor journal, and some flavored drinking water and went to walk over to the Subic church for some preliminary sketch photos and then on to the Olongapo Cemetery on the hill to see if I could photograph the start of the race.  I took photos at the church, some on the Kalakan Bridge and then realized that my camera batteries were dead! Damn!!!  I actually had charged spares on the boat.  Damn!!!!  I walked back across the bridge and down the road a bit to a convenience store and bought some barely useable batteries and then walked back across the bridge again and up the hill road out of Olongapo.  There are a few places where I could sort of see where the boats were waiting for the race to start, but they were really too far, even with my zoom lens.  By then I was getting hot and out of fuel.  I hadn’t brought Gatorade or a pb and j sandwich,  just flavored water so that wasn’t much help.  My climbs up into the cemetery didn’t take me high enough and I was just really getting too hot.  And from what I could see it would still be a while before any action would take place, either from the boats waiting to start or from any passing back from earlier start times.  I walked across the road from the cemetery and followed the little walk through the brush that takes you to a beach area and a tower.  Since there were families going to the beach I felt comfortable to go too, but a guard stopped me when I started up the tower stairs, like Great Wall steps at this point.  The tower was not open to the public.  Definitely time to go.  I bought a mystery ice cream treat from a man selling them and headed back across the road to the cemetery for one more try.  But I still wasn’t high enough and some of the “living cemetery residents” were starting to wonder what I was doing there.  Time to go. Back across the bridge and through the Kalakan Gate  ( the guards made a comment that I must be having a busy day.)  I was broiling by then so stopped at the convenience store again for water. 

I had planned to stop at the church on my way home to make a sketch in my watercolor journal that I could later paint.  I picked a bench under a tree near the front of the church and sat and sketched for about 30 minutes.  People were working, decorating the church pews with flowers.  They worked and I sketched and no one came to see what I was doing which was great.  I was in the shade and quite enjoyed it.  Then I had to walk the mile back to the boat, ugh!  I am still hot and tired, but at least I am out of the sun.  It is 3:05 pm and Randal still isn’t back.  Luckily he had the pb and j sandwiches.

It is 5:17 pm now and Randal is off to the awards ceremony.  I was just too pooped and far less interested.  I really saw too little of the racing and the ceremony might not start till after 6.  Their is a shuttle bus for the crew members over to the Lighthouse Hotel on the beach.  It is where I watched the boats the first day.  The Hotel is the Race headquarters and one of the sponsors.  Our friend Carol stayed there and said it was quite nice.  The lobby is all glass with a lovely view of the beach. 

Ru

Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2008 3:18 PM

Subject: Race Day part 2

Crew members, Ray in blue hat, Randal and Jon Kerner going over the route. 

Folks here still smoke! Bad!!

Actually a good hair day!  So cool.

Jon and Randal as they motor out of the marina over to the far side of the bay where the race would start.  The pink flag indicates what race they will be in.  Doesn’t the flag look a bit like the VA flag?  Though a comfortable place to sit and stay out of the way of the crew, Randal got a fairly bad burn on his thighs so he wore longer shorts and lots of sun screen today.

The crew.

A photo of the boat.

A parade of boats leaving the marina for the race starting point.

Just before the start they line up and try to be in the correct position when the starting gun goes off.  The small boat is just out there fishing.  It really is a good distance from the sailboats. 

I didn’t get a good shot of the big boys, the one’s with the rounded billowing sails.  One of them, Jelik will compete in the America’s Cup representing Hong Kong.  Many came here during the Hong Kong to Subic race which was won by a Philippine boat. 

It wasn’t so fun to watch because I wasn’t really close enough.  My 6x zoom and some cropping makes it look more exciting than standing on shore.  Randal came back starving and sunburnt.  The boat came in 6th of 8.  Hopefully all will improve as the races continue.

Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2008 2:36 PM

Subject: Race Day ! part 1

Hi Everyone,

  I hope my emails are back to normal.  We shall see.  Also, www.Odgamer.info should be back online soon.  It looks a little different, but Darlene and Marino will work with it so that’s great.  Thanks guys!  I really do love my library.  I will divide this up because of all of the photos.

Tuesday late afternoon, our friend and boat surveyor Ray Wolfe came by to recruit Randal to be the navigator for Jon Kerner’s sailboat for the President’s Cup Races.  Jon is a retired College of William and Mary sociology professor.  I thought the flag on the back of his boat was from VA, colors were right though the symbol wasn’t.  Actually it is from Belize.  A sailing club from Taiwan has chartered Jon’s boat to begin learning about racing. Ray would be the captain and teacher.  But, last minute, Ray needed a replacement navigator who owned and could use a handheld GPS.  Well, it took a while, but Randal found our handheld GPS and figured out how to use it.  Because we have other nav gear we don’t use the handheld GPS.  Now, however, if our electronic system should fail and our back up system should fail, Randal can use the handheld GPS.  So this all was a good thing for us too.  Randal spent the evening plotting the course on another chart plotter product we have so he could bring it up on his laptop screen and trace the route.  Randal wanted to be totally prepared for his first racing experience.  You have to navigate from point to point because the course covers lots of the bay and goes as far as Grande Island which is an hour’s cruise for us; you can’t see ahead where your next marker is.  That’s why you need a navigator to tell you what your heading should be from marker to marker.  Hope that makes sense.  If Randal writes up his experience I’ll forward those.  He did take his camera today, the second race day.  Though it had been fairly windy up to race week, the winds seem to be lessening for the actual race days and today’s race was delayed for lack of wind.  The wind picked up and the race started about an hour late.

Wednesday was the first race day.  There was an opening ceremony.

Getting ready to perform  The man in black in President of the Yacht club.

They were quite cute and seemed to enjoy performing.  They must have been roasting in those hats though.  It was in the mid 80s.

  They set of air guns and yell, let the races begin…or something along those lines.

Ray has just taken a photo of the Taiwanese crew.  They take turns going out for different races. You might not be able to tell from the photo, but there are both boys and girls.

Hi Everyone,

Look through any door, window, or porthole on Doramac and you will see racing sail boats and green and gold ROLEX flags.  It is the time for the President’s Cup Regatta that comes with all of the trappings of any high priced sporting event.

“The 16th President’s Cup Regatta (PCR) organized by the Manila Yacht Club and hosted by The Lighthouse Marina Resort and Subic Bay Yacht Club will unfold in Subic Bay in the Easter summer week in 2008 for 7 glorious days of sailing competition. It will be in two parts. The first from March 21-24 will run races in the one design class (Platus), dinghys (mirrors, lawins, optimists and hobies) and the second from March 25-29 for the keelboat class.

This prestigious annual regatta  which is very much part of the Asian Yachting Circuit draws participants not only from the Philippines but from all corners of the world, attracting great global media attention owing to the big names who take up the challenge, as well as the exciting and adventurous races it offers. It immediately follows the China Sea Race (CSR) which is now included in Rolex’s distinguished portfolio of offshore races along with Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and the Rolex Fastnet Race, both considered the pinnacle of ocean racing. The Rolex China Sea Race, is 565 nautical miles long and will start in Hong Kong on Thursday, 20 March 2008 and finish in Subic Bay. The CSR and the PCR attract and bring in the international yachting fraternity of grand prix keel boats and sailors and participants from all over the world and highlight Subic Bay as a popular sailing arena in the Philippines in the week long activity.

          Because the participants and the hordes of personalities they attract have been distinguished by their own affluence and predisposition to high life, sailing being an expensive sport, the event has become a great launching pad and showcase for many interests that cater to and purvey to their expensive tastes.”

It really is not only quite a sight, but with all of the Brits and Aussies, it sounds very different than our American Diesel Duck contingent.  We definitely didn’t arrive with flags waving and bagpipes playing.  But that is exactly how the Imagine did arrive.  She is tied up directly across the way, Fortis Mandrake is to our left and MoonBlue  to our right. 

I did take lots of photos.

  The Jelik arrived yesterday with very little fanfare.

  The Fortis arrived a bit earlier to a fairly large crowd and camera crew.  She was the first to arrive.

  Imagine’s bagpiper.  He looks a bit the Curt Schilling of the Red Sox!

Here she is backing into the slip.  Not so easy at all.

  So different in shape from Doramac.

I am sitting in our pilot house taking this photo.  I think this works because most folks are ready to turn in early and know what is the expected Marina behavior.  No radio blaring at midnight or that kind of thing.

  She was a crew member on Imagine and I just liked her hair!

  Guess who the big sponsor is?

  Lots of boats and crews.  Most crew members look to be between 30 something to 60 something. 

Oddly with all of the arrival hoopla and the increased number of boats, the marina is very quiet this morning as I finish up this email.  I stopped writing yesterday when our friend Audrey came to collect us for our “scuba diving introduction.”    That will come next email. 

PS for Bob.  Audrey says that you will be sorry to have missed the sailing boats.  I think you will be sorry to have missed our scuba lesson!

Hi Everyone,

  It has been a while, hasn’t it.  A combination of jet lag, reacclimating to the heat, and most importantly, having not much to say has kept me from writing.  But the last few days have been a bit cooler, and more interesting and I have been testing out my new, second camera.  During our last day trip to Silanguin my Kodak’s battery started to have issues.  And the mode knob on the top of the camera stopped working smoothly.  I didn’t feel as if I could rely on it for the long term so while I was back in Roanoke my sister and I spent a day camera shopping.  We looked at Best Buy, Office Max, Circuit City and even Wal-Mart.  I really just wanted a spare camera and not a great new camera.  But either the model I wanted wasn’t available or negative reviews from the sales kid kept me from finding what I wanted.  It had to have a view finder, rechargeable batteries and be smallish and not expensive.  Not asking too much.  The next morning I went to talk with my old buddy at Ritz Camera on Colonial Avenue.  I told him what I wanted and left the store with exactly what I needed.  It’s a Canon PowerShot A720IS with a 6x zoom.  That’s twice the zoom of my Kodak. 

Since Thursday we have made 2 new friends.  While I was in Roanoke a sailboat arrived at the SBYC from Miami.  Greg had made the solo voyage and was here to have some work done on his boat and to do some mission work through the Baptist Church.  Greg stopped by Wednesday afternoon and we “interrogated” him about his years as a member of the CIA.  Very interesting.  We made a plan to meet for dinner Thursday night.  Thursday morning a woman came walking along the dock and I saw her looking at our boat.  I invited her in for a tour .  In no time at all we were “old friends” and Randal decided we should invite her for a short morning cruise on Friday during which we would test our new stabilizing “fish.” 

  Carol and Randal  Thursday afternoon.  Carol is the CFO of Wyeth Philippines, a 2 or 3 year assignment.    Her family moved from the Philippines to Manhattan when she was 6, and though there were trips back, this is the first time she has really lived here since.  When her family and friends asked why she chose the assignment for the Philippines Carol’s answer was to rediscover her roots.  She is a Yankees fan but lived in Boston for a few years on a Wyeth assignment. 

It is Holy Week here in the Philippines so Thursday evening when we left to meet Greg for dinner I wondered if the restaurant would be really packed, like when the naval ship was here.  But though there was more car traffic and the SBYC hotel is crowded, we had no problem getting a table at Aresci’s. 

  Greg and Randal finishing dessert. 

I had a “chop chop” salad which is like a “big salad” at home.  Lots of greens and grilled steak pieces.    It gets its name from having lots of things chopped up into it.

On our walk back to the SBYC Greg and Randal admire the naval supply ship docked at Subic.

  All lit up.  The red life boats look to be as big as Doramac.

Friday’s cruise in the bay.

  Greg, Carol and Randal.  I had made banana bread that morning and Greg is sampling a piece.

Much of the time was spent testing out the “fish” with Greg and Randal throwing it out and bringing it in while I drove and Carol helped keep an eye out for other boats.  We tested one of the fish which, unfortunately didn’t work very well.  We returned to the marina for lunch at the club after which  all went out again in the afternoon to try the other fish to see how it would do.  Not good either.  Greg was a great help.  He and Randal  tested  our system for getting the fish, a 64 pound chunk of steel out of its nest on the rail, into the water and then back into its nest.  It is shaped like a bird or fish and  is supposed to hang into the water from a chain and rope attached to the paravane arm and keep the boat from rolling  side to side.  Ours  wouldn’t stay in the water and again became flying fish like our original fish.  Back to the drawing board on this.  Because they weren’t cut exactly as Randal had asked, he is hoping when they are redone they will be fine.  They are being remade here in Subic and not being sent back and forth to China.

  I gave up trying to describe it and went out to take a photo. 

  I can’t explain exactly how it works, but will know by the time we finish reworking it. 

Ru

Hi Everyone,

  I am back on Doramac.  It was a great trip home.  I saw family and friends and every medical person under the sun at least 2 or 3 times!  I have new lenses for my glasses.  I have calcium for my starting to soften bones, and clean teeth and 2 new fillings!!  I left Subic with one small backpack and returned with the small backpack and 2 huge 70 lb. suitcases.  They were filled with boat supplies, books, Red Sox World Series videos, a few clothes, a year’s supply of ibuprofen, fibercon, epi pens, bundt and muffin pans.  No, you can not buy a bundt pan in Subic/Olongapo.  Or Fibercon pills.  Although we do try to live “locally” and adapt to what is available, some things we just need.  Like Kroger’s sugar free powder drink.  I am trying to give up diet cola; bad for softening bones and other body parts.  I would have brought back whole wheat flour but that might have been tricky to get through customs.  I did bring back filters and chemicals for our water purifier.  I was worried about the that, but no problem.  No problem with anything actually.  My sister and niece each donated a huge red rolling suitcase.  I bought bright green and rainbow luggage straps and bright green name tags.  I wrote our name and address on the luggage with black magic marker.  My brother-in-law packed and weighed the suitcases for me and lastly loaded them into their van for the short trip to the airport.    My sister’s cats guarded them every night sleeping on them as hard and lumpy as they were as new items were added each day.  During the trip back to Manila  I sailed through inspections and customs and the luggage was right on time.  I had checked both yes and no to one question on the form, but no one seemed to care.  There were lovely people to sit near on each flight and good movies to watch.  The food was not great, but the wine was free and I did have some on the way back.  One “tiny wine” was all I needed to actually sleep through half of the 13 hour flight!  Should have had some on my way to Roanoke.  There were only small glitches. My plane from DC to Roanoke was delayed about an hour and needed to be “de-iced!”  On my flight back to Subic, the Japan airlines staff couldn’t understand how to deal with my Philippine visa stamp.  Of everything I had worried about concerning the entire trip, that was not on my list.  It took 15 very long minutes of calls and finally a check with the supervisor before they would issue a boarding pass so I could catch the flight from Tokyo to Manila.  And then they didn’t give me the isle seat I requested so I had to ask the man sitting on the isle to move a few times during the 4 hour flight.  It took about 27 hours to go from the hotel in Manila to my sister’s house in Roanoke and about 28 hours from my sister’s house back to the hotel in Manila.  That counts waiting time in the airports before I ever boarded a plane.  It was quite tiring but everyone was helpful, friendly and some had great stories to share.  In Roanoke I met a you man who was going to Utah to join his family who were to go on to  Branson, Missouri to perform.  Their group is The Bretts.   http://www.brettfamily.com/site   I met Brydon who is a college student in Virginia.  He was very warm and charming and we talked about lots of things, including books and boats and the state of the country.  On the Chicago to Tokyo flight there was a woman from Harrisburg, PA whose aunt liked in New Bedford.  There was a very brave/nervous man from West Virginia who was flying to Manila to meet his email bride and his 4th marriage.  Finding Randal at the Manila airport was a bit tricky; he had to wait outside under the letters IJKL for me.  I didn’t know how the system worked or which part of outside he was waiting.  I had forgotten my Philippine phone; but one of the baggage helpers showed me the alphabet system and I quickly found Randal.  Finding a cab was a whole other story.  And not only did the driver try to charge us $40 rather than the reasonable $10, but the radio was turned to a station where there was a radio show broadcasting a fairly graphic encounter between two gay men.  We finally arrived safe, sound, and sane a little after midnight at our hotel. 

I stayed with my sister Harriet and brother-in-law Jim while I was in Roanoke.  My nephew Andrew drove in from Philly the first weekend and my niece returned from a business trip Sunday so we could all be together for dinner Sunday night.  My friend Sheila, who I met the first week of college, 1968,  drove in from Ashland, VA the last weekend.  In between I saw many of my friends and that was bittersweet.  It was wonderful to see them all and sad to say good-bye yet again.  Ellen, Sharon, Jane C, Jane F, Sandra, Becky and Mike, Jore, Sue and Rosie.  My 92 years young friend Elsie Asher.  I visited the Roanoke County Public Library and had a lovely chat with Diana who was my director and is still there working to build the new library.  I had lunch with Darlene, Alan, Lois, Arleta, Di, and Jane.  I saw photos of Marino’s and Wendy’s adorable son, Samuel. There was PJ and Sid and Rose, and Kerry and Robin and, and, and.   Everyone was there working hard; I miss them and miss having a library to go to.   I chatted with library users who were kind enough to say they missed me.  My friend Ann was kind enough not to kill me when I went to the wrong restaurant and missed my chance to have lunch with her.  Sorry Ann!!!   I visited my friends Sarah and Drake and Drake and I had our walk in the park.  Good dog, Drake!

I spent one long lovely Sunday afternoon with Linda and Ken, Randal’s sister and her husband.  We had the funnest lunch!

I had a lovely lunch with all of the Rawlings, Kim, Jeff, Caitlin and Beth.  Sadly Beth’s paper plate puppet met an unknown fate when it was left behind at the Station restaurant.  When you are 3, that’s a big deal.

I was able to have those yearly dental, eye, and medical checks because Harriet was kind enough to make the appointments and everyone was kind enough to squeeze me.  I met with Helen umpteen million times as we took care of taxes and van and other business tasks.  And Mitch at RWR was a hero to help me with the dead van battery.  Poor old van, we had such fun trips in it and it would hold every bike we owned and we would stuff it to the gills with anything we might need for travel.  It definitely needs a new home.

I brought back some US dollars and the lady at the bank searched to find those bills that had no marks or dents or anything that would make them unacceptable in foreign countries.  Who knew? 

My nephew was kind enough to put the model banca together that I had brought home for Truman and my niece spent most of a Saturday helping me find a bathing suit top called a tankini I can wear biking or swimming with my shorts.  I even bought a spare camera!  Too hard to find them unless you make a trip to Manila and there are more less expensive choices in the US.  I spent most days rushing around; luckily my sister has 2 cars and their rv truck so I could use one car.  Jim took the truck.  It was a shock to fill the car with gas, for me anyway.  There is a definite advantage to walking and taking cheap jeepneys.  I brought funky gifts to friends who also were kind enough to thank me for the paintings I gave to them.  I was able to visit my art teacher Katie and see her various projects. 

I visited bookstores and received books as gifts.  I should be set for a bit. 

There were phone visits with Martha, Julia and Harriet; all good friends who all live in Massachusetts.

I didn’t even really mind the cold.

Rereading this I seem to have used the word kind a lot.  But people were, and it made my tasks so much easier to actually accomplish.  Every day was busy; but it all got done.  Hopefully I didn’t drive Harriet and Jim too crazy.  I am certainly lucky to have them.

  My friend Elsie.  I took the photo of us.

  Max the dog.  How can you not love a face like that.  Max would come racing into my room in the morning, jump on the bed and start licking me like mad.  He was a bundle of puppy energy.  Harriet’s cats put up with him. 

  Library circulation desk. 

My sister and niece vetoed their photos and Linda wouldn’t let me take any of her. I am guessing Kim and Caitlin would say the same thing, so no family photos.  So I’ll stop with these. 

I realized when I was writing that I didn’t know what to call home; Roanoke or here.   I guess I think of Randal and Doramac as home. And we have made some new good friends here too.  I don’t know what to call Roanoke.  Robert Frost wrote that “home is the place that when you go there they have to take you in.”  My sister and friends certainly took me in.  So, though Doramac is home, I will have to come up with a word to describe Roanoke.  Any suggestions?