You must forgive the fact I am not straying far from the ocean side this summer, but interesting people just keeping falling into my lap within kilometers of my home. Take this week, for example. . . .
"Do you speak English? Parlez-vous Francais? Sprechen sie Deutsch?" rattles off this guy in friendly fashion, plonking himself down beside me at Zushi JR train station. "I'm Hal Wagstaff, from Auckland, New Zealand, staying at Shonan Village Center and judging the Kyorin Cup 2004 IODA (International Optimist Dinghy Association) Asian Sailing Championship out of Hayama Marina."
We meet there on the morning of the first race, the quayside busy with youngsters readying a battalion of nippy little boats known as Optimists, the whipping of sails acting as a snappy counterpoint to the languages of many nations.