The forecast was for rain. But we got wind. A heck of a lot more wind than normal for a late January day on the San Francisco Bay.
I’ve been sailing on Akyla since early October. Over the last few months, the windiest day I’ve seen was 12 knots, with gusts up to 15kts. Okay, maybe it’s been a little windier than that, but not by much. Today, we were in for a treat…
Continue Leave a Comment January 22, 2012
Rokas Zaveckas and Laura Pamerneckytė at the opening ceremonies of Innsbruck 2012
Kalnų Ereliai veteran and member of the Lithuanian National Ski Team Laura Pamerneckytė of Vilnius is in Austria this week for the 1st Winter Youth Olympic Games. The 16-year-old is one of just six athletes on the Lithuanian team (two alpine skiers, two cross-country skiers, and two biathletes). In Innsbruck, she will compete in the Slalom and Giant Slalom competitions. On the eve of her first race, she took a few minutes to catch up with kalnuereliai.com and provide some insight into her experiences at the YOG.
One Way Ticket: What does the experience of participating in YOG mean to you?
Laura Pamerneckytė: It means a lot to me, because I was sent here to represent my country. I think all the Lithuanians here are nice and friendly, so other athletes have a good opinion about us. It just feels so great to be a part of YOG.
OTW: What is your first impression of the race hill, and what is your plan for the GS/SL races?
LP: The hill is really good. Hopefully the snow and weather will be fine too. My plan is simply to finish. I’ll try as hard as I can, but there are a lot of strong girls I just can’t compete with. The most important thing is to participate not to win.
OWT: What has been the best part of YOG so far?
LP: The best part was opening ceremony! It was a bright and colorful show. It was really interesting despite how cold it was outside. Also in YOG, I have met some really interesting people and made many new friends.
OWT: And lastly, what is Yogger? We’ve been hearing a lot about it.
LP: Hmm … Yogger is like a flash drive but with some special functions. Whatever activities you participate in—drumming, listening to a lesson about how to prepare for competition, or how to be a chef—you collect points. When you have enough points you can get prizes like sunglasses or a water-bottle. Rokas [Zaveckas] and I both already got [a water-bottle], and we need only one or two more points to get awesome headphones!
Aciu Laura! Sounds like you’re having a great time. Good luck to you, Rokas, and the rest of the Lithuanian team!
Leave a Comment January 20, 2012
There was an eerily warm north-easterly blowing over the mountains and into San Francisco. The air turned dry while whitecaps rose and broke across the Bay; the conundrum of living in a place with ocean in one direction, and desert in the other. On the street, people wore t-shirts and carried winter coats. Dressing is always a challenge when it’s 65 degrees despite the calendar’s insistence that it’s December 1st.
The weekend rolled around, but the wind did not dissipate. I headed over to Pier 40 early to help thread a new topping lift for the new spinnaker pole on Akyla. I was strapped into a bosun’s chair and hoisted up to the top of the mast where I had to find the end of a tiny white pilot line that I had previously sewn to the end of the bright red line laying in a tangled heap on the deck…
Continue Leave a Comment December 7, 2011
Oktoberfest. Oh yes it was.
That and the title of this article is really all you need to know how this Saturday’s sailing went. The fog was tickling the ribs of San Francisco Bay, but the sun was shining over Akyla…
Continue Leave a Comment October 19, 2011
Just another Sunday sailing on the Bay… or was it? I was on a boat for only the second time, with a crew I had never met, doing a job I’ve never done before alone with light shifty winds. If that sounds like a Mission Impossible to you, well then you would be right. In fact that’s the name of the boat, a Merit 25 out of the Berkeley Yacht Club. For some unknown but kind of fun reason, when Merit 25′s were first brought to San Francisco Bay they started a trend to name the boats after old television shows. There’s Twilight Zone, Dr. Who, and in the slip right next to us, a new arrival, Star Wars.
It was foggy in San Francisco while I waited for my ride. By the time we got to the Berkeley marina the skies were clearing, but there wasn’t any wind…
Continue Leave a Comment October 10, 2011
My favorite word in Lithuanian, grybauti, means “to go mushrooming.” In English the meaning is simple and to the point, but in Lithuanian, the sentiment of the word is much more poetic. I didn’t fully understand it until recently when some friends put me in a pair of rubber boots, handed me a basket and a knife, and drove to a “secret spot” some 20km outside of Vilnius on a cold, damp morning. Wandering through a moss-covered forest with your head down, looking for small brown lumps hidden in the earth, it’s easy to get lost. You never walk in a straight line, glimpses of baravykai and voveraitės pulling you this way and that, so if you were to leave a trail of red paint on the ground it would look like a drunk lost on his way home from the bar, only to wander around and around in circles outside the front door…
Continue Leave a Comment October 7, 2011
With a month on Lake Charlevoix doing little else besides sailing under my belt, I though I was ready for the San Francisco Bay. After all, it does get pretty windy on the main basin. I found out quickly that on the Bay, sailing is the easy part, and racing is a whole other day at sea.
Thinking that it would be hard to find a boat in need of sailors, I put my name on every crew list in San Francisco. Barely 48 hours went by before I got my first phone call…
Continue 2 Comments October 6, 2011
When it’s raining in February and snowing in March, it’s nice to know that I can get fresh tulips (they claim they are grown in Lithuania!) at the flower market on Basanavičiaus gatvė. There’s nothing like a large bunch of bright yellow tulips on a wet, gray day to put a much-needed smile on a person’s face…
Continue Leave a Comment September 25, 2011
In Ignalina, Lithuanian Independence Day, Vasario 16-ają, is celebrated with a festival of winter sport called Sportas Visiems at the Lithuanian Winter Sports Center. I went for the alpine ski races, but there was also cross-country skiing, ski orienteering, biathlon, target shooting, ice skating, and a very impressive winter triathlon which consists of cross-country skiing, running and mountain biking through the ice and snow…
Continue Leave a Comment September 25, 2011
I was eating lunch a few weeks ago with a couple of British ex-pat friends who were recounting the events of a recent business trip back to London. They spoke of traffic jams and commutes, the astonishing price of a simple cup of bad coffee and the security hassles at Gatwick. They finished by declaring how happy they were to be back “home” in Vilnius where good coffee is cheap, a trip to the airport is never more than a quick in and out, and work is only a ten minute walk from home…
Continue Leave a Comment September 25, 2011