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Multiple yeah

So on Monday I handed in my TP52-paper and all lecturers started to finish for the end of term (Christmas break)… Anyway, no Christmas without dinner and no English Christmas without big bird. So my housemates had put the bird in the oven long before I ended my day and arriving home was lovely!

The bird had been getting perfect for some hours, the stuffing was ready to be cooked, the potatoes were waiting eagerly their turn in the oven and the mulled wine was ready to be heated. The evening started with a visit to the pub around the corner for a game of pool and some British Ales. Coming back home dinner was almost ready and the fun continued.

The turkey was lovely, the atmosphere great and the visit to Jack’s afterwards was good fun. It happened, here are the pics:
Being Dutch… So I had to wear some proper footwearThe dinner tableEnjoying the food
Now… what to drink?G8 at Jack’s (in the front from left to right: Neil, Oli and Ed)

As I said, multiple dinners, so in short about the second one this week: With the same group as we went with to London some weeks back we decided that we had to do something special together and a Christmas dinner it was. Staged at G8, Italian-style food (note, it wasn’t really Italian) and again a lovely night. No photos of that yet, haven’t brought along a camera and I haven’t received the photos from dinner so they’ll show up asap.

One day left before the end of term and I really am exhausted and look forward to some off-time. It is SO much fun my course, but the 200% commitment that I am putting into it is not really sustainable for 12 weeks at a time… I have a great weekend planned here in Soton (and nearby areas) and although it is really good fun over here also look forward going to NL on Monday for two and a half weeks.

Ciao!

But, work is also nearing completion so all is still well. The biggest assignment, a paper on the TP52 class is a printjob away from being done (I think) and that leaves just some maths, materials, thermodynamics, ship studies and probably computer drawing between now and holiday.

Anyway, a sneak preview of my paper on the TP..:
[photocredit: Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi, TP52 logo is registred by the TP52 class]

Something completely different now: Spiced Shortbread
Who has come up with that name for “kruidnoten”? Still, they’re as addictive as always and a maxi-bag isn’t good when sitting behind your desk…

Time for me to continue meeting deadlines…

Ciao!

This must have been the strangest Sinterklaas ever! Yes it was the 5th of December, but prior to today nothing that reminded me of the man and today no-one knows what I am talking about.

Well, for everyone this is Sinterklaas:

And this are his helpers (of which there are many many more!):

And they bring presents to all, to celebrate Saint Nicolas’ birthday. More on Wiki.

Talking about presents, I couldn’t let today pass without presents (but I left out the poems we do as well in NL). So I allowed myself to open my stock of SInterklaas sweets today and from the man himself I got a guest lecture by Andy Claughton (click for more info on the man).

The lecture was organised by the RNLI in cooperation with the University and this year the topic was design for the 32nd America’s Cup by Ship Science Alumnus Mr. Andy Claughton. The lecture was really interesting, but didn’t gave away secrets to any of the present students on specific areas. I thought the balance between real engineering subjects and a broader scope on the design was almost spot on since the lecture wasn’t specifically for Ship Science students.

Not much else going on here, except for two looming deadlines on Monday and as a result a busy few days ahead. After Monday the load starts to drop and then the holidays are fast approaching.

That’s it for now…

Ciao!

I don’t know where to begin, but the movie “The Darjeeling Limited” is great! I went to see it the other day and it was nothing like I expected and awesome!

I’m not going to expand on the movie itself, you really should find that one out elsewhere.

http://www.thedarjeelinglimited.co.uk/

Ciao!

I’m not too sure what I think of the fact that racing has been cancelled for today. First of all both the team and the boat I raced most of the series on (Sanguma) was good fun and I learned every second I sailed on the boat and with the team.
But with the predictions as they are (over 30 knots of wind, with gusts of nearly 50 knots) and the current conditions out in the Solent (BrambleMet) looking to be almost exactly as predicted the choice of the Race Committee is probably the correct one for an inshore race. And it wouldn’t have been much fun on Sanguma, as she is a fairly small boat except for the downhill rides… The lovely design by Jason Ker and the quality of the crew has resulted in an early surfing boat and thus nice downwind speeds.

That however leaves plenty of time for other stuff that has to be gotten out of the way before Christmas. So with the wind howling around the house and me waking up slightly later than normal on a Sunday (woke up around 8 instead of 6.30) should make for a productive day of studying.

Before I start however, I thought I’d give a look in what’s coming up this week. Lecture-wise it’s the same old story, a lot. Then there is of course Sinterklaas on Wednesday. The plans for celebrating it don’t seem to have materialised, but that is replaced by a nice present by the RNLI: an insight into the design of an IACC for the 32nd America’s Cup by Andy Claughton! This Ship Science alumni is one of the biggest names in AC-design, so it should be interesting.

Don’t think there’s much more to say right now. Time for breakfast and then back to work!

Ciao!

Well almost… There is quite a filled Thursday night waiting for me with mathematics, essay and thermodynamics on the agenda. On the plus side the weekend is looming and Friday night should be good fun again with of course Sunday the last day of the Winter Series. I’ll be racing again on the good ship Sanguma and with around 25 knots of breeze predicted it should be great fun again. Other than just fun there is also a podium finish overall at stake.

Not much new happening other than just the usual, but that doesn’t make it less interesting!

Ciao

Well, that’s that! I haven’t died after the thermodynamics overdose, passed two maths-tests this week and finished my assembly drawing of a vice this afternoon. That leaves a not too hard schedule for the rest of the weekend. First a list of what I have to do for Uni (just to give you an idea):
– Mathematics (2 modules)
– Ship Studies (assignment)
– Properties of Materials (assignment and a quiz)
– Graphical Communications and Marine Transport (essay, 3000 words)

But it can’t be work all the time, obviously! So Sunday is again reserved for sailing. It is looking to be one of the first proper “winter” races with temperatures feeling to be approaching zero… Any way that can’t stop me from looking forward to it since I’ll be sailing with Sanguma again.

Ok, I think I’ll be doing the “right” thing this afternoon and get started on my work.

Ciao!

I’m talking about 5 hours of Thermodynamics in just one single day… This must have been one of the toughest days so far. Start at 8.40, have a “real” break at 12 (well that actually started at 12.20) go back to work at 13.00hrs and be finished by 18.00hrs. Then of course it is Tuesday, so my turn to cook. I don´t mind that, but usually I have had some time to do the shopping before. So leave lecture, drop stuff at home, go shopping, start cooking, eat dinner, have a short break, get back to study and pay back a debt to a friend by dropping of a small present.

Before I use my keyboard as a pillow I´m going to bed.

Ciao!

But the story begins about 24 hours earlier. My Italian friends had invited me to join them for the game against Scotland and even they agreed that the match was boring to watch and the victory was stolen. Not that it bothered them in any way, because they qualified for Euro 2008 and that’s what counted. Than it was time for a Swiss-Italian pasta meal, before going to a house party with just international students. The biggest problem with those parties is the diversity of people and as a result all stereotypes can be thrown out the window… Didn’t make it too late though, I was looking forward to a nice day of sailing on Sunday. So around 1:30 I went home and had about 5 hours of sleep to look forward to.

And that brings me to Sunday: Got up at 6.45 (am that is), was in time at the ferry. We got the lovely Sanguma rigged and ready and we were almost at the usual starting area when we got confirmed there would not be any racing today. The wind wasn’t that bad (occasional above 20 knots of breeze and we have already raced in 30+ this series), but the result still was the same: turn around and do something else…

So when we arrived back in Cowes, we cleaned up the boat (fast, because it was still raining) and went for breakfast at Eegon’s. With the menu challenging us, most of the crew went for Eegon’s Breakfast Bonanza in our search for recognition and a certificate. The biggest plate of English breakfast per person soon occupied the table and the challenge was on! At least I don’t have to have lunch or dinner tonight but I did got this:

(sorry for the quality, don’t have a scanner readily available here)

Anyway, after breakfast it was time to head for home and still in my foul weather gear I did the bike ride back up the hill. It is nice and warm, much more pleasant than outside:

Anyway, I’ll better make good use of the time I’ve got today and do some more work.

Ciao!

(yeah yeah, I know I should get higher quality photos… but everything on this side of the pond is so much more expensive)

You know the song (http://www.eatthismedia.nl/cameron/visual/clips/weekend.html) is what was playing in my head this morning. Another tiring week has past, but I’m still enjoying myself over here so I am not complaining in any way. The London-trip just piled up the amount of work that had to be done during the week. And so today I am in the library with the goal of making sure I have less work to do during the upcoming week.

So what’s up? Not much, tomorrow I’ll be out on the water again (and I can say with a big smile again with Sanguma), this afternoon I’ll be joining the Italians when they will be watching Italy vs. Scotland and afterwards there is supposedly something of a party somewhere where we are all going to… Should be fun and what I’ve heard about the last Euro-qualifiers from Holland I’m not going to miss much by not seeing the game tonight.

And I got my first taste of proper Italian cooking (and especially the way you have dinner) yesterday. Got invited by one of my Italian friends (the only female one though ) and had a simple, but lovely and very enjoyable meal. Pasta to start with, a bit of salad and a lovely roasted chicken, I was a happy man.

Not much more to say right now, I’m trying to find the correct version of the song…
In the mean time (because I didn’t put a photo up before) this is the boat I’m learning lot’s again and enjoying myself on:

And I know I promised something about the London-photos, but I haven’t downloaded them yet… When I have, I’ll add a couple to the London story.

Ciao!