Time is flying by here on Diego Garcia. It's like summer camp with sailing classes, windsurfing classes, 5K runs, lagoon swim competitions, etc. Just today I got my license to check out the Pico Laser two-man sailing boats at the marina. It was only my second time out on the water and I pretty much got the hang of it.

The hardest part for me was launching the boat off the beach. You have to keep the boat pointed into the wind and at the same time control the tiller/rudder and hold onto the lines that stabilize the sail. Once I got going it was awesome with winds of at least 15-20mph. There was only one scary moment where I almost capsized but I managed to get the boat pointed back into the wind.

On June 10th there was a parade for Philippino Independence day which falls on the 12th. That morning me and three of my compadres competed in an 800m lagoon swim. The first photos is just after we finished. We were worried that half of it would be swimming out into the waves, but fortunately a marina worker drove all the swimmers, about 10 total, to a buoy that was 800 meters off shore. I finished in just shy of 19 minutes...which was surprisingly first in my 30-39 year age group. The winner finished in 13 minutes. The timing was great because we got done swimming just in time to see the Independance day parade. The pictured float is General McCarthur's return to the Philippines.