A lot of people claim that when we think positively, we tend to attract positive outcomes and focus on the good. Our hosts from the Cape Coastal Rowing Club in Simon’s Town are champions in this discipline. But does that also apply to the weather? You would think so. In 2017, we witnessed how they crossed their home waters, False Bay, in a joint effort from coast to coast (42 km) in doubles and quads – in glorious weather. And now, the same phenomenon. On any other day of our stay so far, I would have said “stay at home, forget it”. On Saturday, at the club regatta: perfect.
What’s giving us a hard time this year is the Southeaster, which hasn’t let up for weeks. For our rowing ambitions, this often means: no go.
But I don’t want to complain, after all we were there on Saturday, me with the timekeeping and Volker in the rowing boat. And it was a lot of fun, which I want to take pictures of first.
The phenomenon is not so easy to describe, the pictures are mainly colorful at first. This is a small regatta, about 2 km, which is first raced in a quad competition. This is followed by a relay of singles, doubles and quads, and the teams are always Team Blue, Team White and Team Orange. Incidentally, the last picture shows the fastest team, well-built youngsters who completed the course in 7:55 minutes. The club cooperates with two schools and offers a “Rowing Development Program”, which is also well received. The cover picture shows the fan community. Some of them took to the water in a motorboat to get the party started. You can briefly see and hear the sound on the following video, which shows the start of the quads from the first race, with my husband in blue in the middle (with an 86-year-old on stroke and with a result of 8:59 minutes not bad either). Incidentally, it wasn’t just the kids who were in a good mood, you could get the impression. There are gradations.
When I talk about mindset, I mean the observation that everyone here is always in a good mood (or seems to be) without exception, showing presence and commitment, no matter what the issue, whether it’s clearing and tidying up the boats, taking responsibility for repairs or organizing a braai (barbecuing large quantities of meat together). We are met with absolute friendliness and openness, we are involved from the very first moment. After every trip, the hearts and thumbs up and thank you’s fly back and forth. After every (🙄)! And so on. There’s so much lightness in the air. And you constantly have the feeling that everything is great and unique, even if that can’t be true. But even when the southeaster blows and rowing is not possible, the mood remains high. The smallest opportunity is seized, and people meet up to go hiking, cycling or barbecuing. All in all, their success seems to prove them right. Our South African friends have power, stamina, lots of good humor and look incredibly healthy.
I know I wouldn’t be able to keep up in the long run. The emoji above already gives you an indication of how it feels for me. I’m just German, and then there’s this saying that I roll back and forth in my head:
A pessimist is an optimist who has thought things through.
This sentence probably suffers from the fact that it abbreviates the matter, like so many such formulaic sentences. We spoke to some of the South Africans about how they see the world situation and, in particular, the situation in their country – neither of which gives rise to a good mood. Then suddenly there is a lot of consternation and concern, then people show themselves to be well informed, and the conversations are lively and interesting, but ultimately result in this one-must-live-and-then-please-good. The bottom line is that I would like to take a leaf out of this mindset, the effect of which I don’t want to deny. The only thing I don’t believe in is the weather – and nobody has seriously claimed that.
Fotos: Title und 1-4 Nick Mason vom CCRC, the Video is mine
Translation with the help of deepl.com
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