Respect the Newton

The Burnetts had a whirlwind Spring Break down in Florida!  We arrived in Fort Lauderdale around the same time as The Amazing Marvin and spent ten exhausting but educational days prepping and training with Captain Richard.  It wasn’t always work, though — the kids got a whole day on the beach!  We started to feel that we could do this!  Richard did such a good job that we solidified our plan to leave Florida near the end of June and head down to Colombia as fast as we could, with Richard’s help part of the way.

FYI for our readers, if you use Facebook (begrudgingly) you can get more stuff from us.  Like massive amounts of pics, which are easier to post on Facebook than this blog.  Marginally.  Just search for “BurnettsAhoy.”  If you “Like” our page, you can get post updates announced on your news feed.  Don’t worry, you don’t have to “Friend” Greg or Mel to “Like” our page.  I have no desire to see pics of you at last year’s Christmas party.  Seriously.

Above is a poorly-edited and long video of bits from our break.  Mel will get better at videography.  Her previous experience consists of videoing patients’ funny walks and other oddities so she can discuss them with her colleagues, so she has a long way to go.  She would also like to point out that for some reason in this video it looks like all she does is sit on her duff while Greg does all of the work.  Not true.  Such is the curse of the camerawoman, the “kicker” of filmmaking.  For example, her biceps almost fell off when Greg forced her to rapidly adjust the mainsheet bridle as he jibed 10 times in 10 minutes.  Couldn’t video that.  Arms too numb.  Oh, wait!  The video is 10 minutes long!  Ten is a big number, isn’t it, Greg?

Mel had many deep thoughts on life and our plans while taking this trip (such as, “Sailing hurts sometimes”,) but she is too tired currently to post them all.  Just one parting thought: Respect the Newton.  Not the fig kind!  I mean the unit of force.  Because when those huge sails catch the wind, the only thing keeping your fingers still attached to your hands as you adjust the sheets is your training to wrap those lines properly around the winch before you let go of the clutch.  Respect the Newton.  Respect.

PS.  For those worriers out there, yes, Mel still has all of her fingers.