Nautical Themed Pashmina Afghan

My brother's best friend from childhood, Brian, once upon a time tinkered with the tune from Gilligan's Island to write the most hilarious, keel-over funny riff I had ever heard. Granted I was in third grade at the time, but in the way younger siblings idolize their older siblings and their friends, this was side-splittingly funny. Sadly I long ago forgot the words of the song, but the memory lives on.In a similar vain, I'm sure I'll forget most of the details from last week, yet sailing around the Caribbean with my new teammates for the 2015 season on the Cannondale Garmin Pro Cycling Team was an incredible experience that will forever be etched deep into my memory.The variety of team building exercises run the gamut. As fans of cycling you're likely familiar with stories of survival camps and tromping around the snowy Dolomites in late November. An afternoon of ropes courses or tales spun around an open bonfire will interweave camaraderie. And seemingly nothing quite matches a bunch of professional athletes overrunning a bar and paying particular attention to make the younger riders imbibe. Who would have guessed.That is until now. I stand by this statement: it will be a very very long time, if ever, before another team camp can reach what we did in terms of a) actual, constructive, intricate team building and b) having it done so in such a spectacular environment as the British Virgin Islands. It as incredible. Heck, you can hike each of the seven highest summits as a team and it won't come close.How do you humble nearly 30 professional athletes? Easy, throw them in a highly intense sport in which they have zero experience.Boarding ten boats with three or four riders each, plus a sprinkling of team staff, and (thankfully) one professional skipper per boat, we set sail from Tortola. Five incredible constructive and ridiculously fun days later we knew a jib from a gybe, could host a mainsail in seconds, and knew (a sliver of) the intricacies of sailboat racing. I'm ecstatic with the relationships forged after just one meeting. Tell you what, a sailboat's sleeping quarters and bathroom especially are not spacious; a very speedy and effective way of getting to know people is by circumnavigating Tortola with four people you just met. I think being shot into space might provide a similar result given the necessity to work together efficiently and constructively in extremely tight quarters. But you wouldn't get the same sweet tan. Nor dine on fresh Caribbean lobster.