10 Years, 12 Nights, 6 Hotels, ONE LOVE - April 2012 Trip Report

[Hubby-man]

Guiriguy was getting ready and spilled out of the changing-room, rubber fins drooping at the end of his outstretched arms. He stumbled forward like a wounded animal under attack, while the look of determination in his face advertised focus like a road side billboard. The more observant onlooker could spot a dangerous glimmer of a last chance attack in his eyes.

He rounded the pool like a fighter that has already given everything, but must face yet another round. On the other side he paused dramatically, took a step back, and, mustering some force, he pushed forward. His toes curled around the pools edge as they absorbed the impact of his body contracting. Then his arms exploded outward, the fins bending sharply under the weight of the air stream, as his leg-muscles contracted in a beautiful display of manly strength. LIFT OFF!

For a brief magnificent moment the masculine figure paints the silhouette of an Albatross against the sky, before the whole flying circus face-plants itself hilariously onto the waters surface. The crowd went roaring with applause.

The judges conferred for a while, and one after the others held up sheets with numbers, the meaning of which was not clear to me. The crowd was displeased and yelled for more points.

The two beers I had ordered at the bar arrived. I dutifully tried to make my way to the judges table to hand my lovely wife a refreshing drink. I think she definitely needed one after all the events that had flooded in the last day and after all the behaving properly around relatives.

Not nearly there, one of the bottles slipped out of my hands and crashed loudly on the floor – Party foul! The crowds attention was now on me and the shards that glistened in the foaming beer around me. OMG, I think I heard some ”Boo's” and I was not sure, if this was still about the judges points or solely directed at my turning the pool's edge into a barefoot hazard.

The Sea Star staff reacted amazingly. With more experience than a Hazardous Materials Unit, they parted the crowd, cordoned off the area and in a flash, with fast hands, made the disaster history. They even gave me a fresh beer at no charge, even though the whole thing was due to nothing but my clumsiness. I was thoroughly flushed and embarrassed.

By the time I gained my composure the contest was over.

Brasi raised his voice to booming and Ninja was declared the Belly flop champion. Guiriguy took the news badly and my eyes found him slumped under a canopy. I have hardly ever seen such defeat. Brasi and MuzikDoc huddled over him like protective cut men. The scene reminded me of a statue we studied in Art class, named The boxer of Quirinal or Thermae pugilist.





The details of the competition have been captured so very well in all of the other trip reports, so I will not attempt to retell them.

You can also experience this event through Ninja's awesome video collage. This includes pictures of the honorary belly flop I was allowed to take in Guiriguy's spandex, after the end of the event.

Sad to admit we were too tired for any clean up. But everyone else lend a helping hand. The organization for this event, backed up by the efforts from the Seastar staff, was amazing, as you might have already learned from other trip reports. It looks like a Belly Flop 2 will soon come.

After everyone had dried off and chucked their beers, we piled roof high into a big van together.

As we dropped off one boardie after the other, we told stories of the crazy driving we had experienced around the cliffs. Someone should open a thread on the subject, titled “you ain’t seen nothin' yet!” - Chicken's catch phrase for road rage.

Everyone was headed to Travellers Resort but we were carrying many many heavy bags and needed to check into Seasplash first.