For the last 5 days I have been back in town to complete a training course, this is fractionally more interesting than it sounds as I did the whole thing via live video conference to Houston. It also meant that I didn't start work till 6pm here in Abu Dhabi which was causing my internal body clock massive issues as I was still waking up at 6 but not getting back till nearer 4. The big advantage was that I had the entire day to do what I wanted so I finally got round to taking up a sporty, outdoorsy hobby that is possible here. Kitesurfing. Sorry to all my windsurfing buddies but it had to be done!
Day one was not a great success, after taking 2 "lessons" where I stood on the beach and didn't even get wet at the start of the year I decided I was going to man up and just go for it. So I rocked up on a day with a decent breeze, rigged up my gear and promptly got told to not go out with a kite that size by an instructor doing a lesson for someone else. 10 minuets later I had been talked into hiring a smaller kite and was ready to go. Another 10 minutes later and I had nearly decapitated some chick and had swallowed approximately half the water in the Arab gulf which I promptly deposited back onto the beach 200m downwind where I had cunningly been dragged so nobody could see me throw up. Eventually and with some tips yelled at me from people who were actually moving I got up on the board where I promptly surfed/ sailed (?) directly into the only damn mangrove bush on the entire beach. Thankfully I had to head into work about this time so avoided any more embarrassment for the day.
The events of the first day had bashed my spirits enough for me to take another lesson so I swapped instructor (which felt really taboo - I cant explain it) and hit the beach ready for more. And credit where it's due, Mr Kuba gave me two tips and a bigger board and I was away. I had also gone to the beach with French Chris, an engineer from Wireline at my base who, surprisingly, is French. He claimed he could Kitesurf and so Kuba rented him gear, told him to stay away from the beach and the power lines then spent a lot of the time of my lesson using the gear I was supposed to be learning with to chase after him and rescue him from the beach directly below the power lines. Annoying as it was I needed the rest and found it highly amusing when the only thing Kuba could say upon his return was "Mother Fucking French Bastards".
Chris also provided one of the most awkward situations I've been in for a while; once we were done with our lesson(s) I set about trying to fix my kite, the details are very boring but simply put I needed a knife to cut some whipping so I could repair one if the lines. I tried to ask the instructor but he scampered off for a sail before I could catch him so Chris with his ridiculous French accent asked the next person he saw if they had one. This happened to be the chick I tried to behead on day one and just for the record - it does not matter how innocent your reason, you cannot ask a lone girl on a isolated beach if she happens to have a knife about her person without sounding like a mass murderer. To make matters worse I went for a rummage in Rayan's car (as I had stolen it to drive to the beach) and discovered a lethal 6" long weapon of a knife which I flourished in an act of triumph only to discover said girl had wandered over to see what the issue with my kit was and was now giving the both of us a very suspicious look while trying to sidle inconspicuously to her own car.
Friday, my day off, coincided with some nice breeze the perfect strength for my kite and I had a great day although I did do a whole load of walking. In the end I spent nearly 5h out on the water and am consequently red in weird patches where I miss applied my sun cream. Most noticeably on the back of my hands which actually feel like I put a hot frying pan down on them. Lesson learnt. Now i'm back on another rig where nothing is happening. The well has losses (it is absorbing the mud we pump into it) which if we don't stop could lead to us having such reduced weight in the well that it could start to flow back on us (a kick) so we are sitting around monitoring stuff that I don't understand. Hopefully we will get started again soon because I am looking forward to getting back to the beach and living life again.
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