Chi Chi's love balls

Post cocktail competition. I know nothing about cocktails, other than how to drink them. I've just changed the earlier image to one that's contemporaneous with the cocktail hour. The wharf in Porto Cervo is lined with these yachts and this is the evening that the owners visit each others' boats, their staff vying with each other to deliver the best cocktails. As someone said, it's like a very posh pub crawl and all the drinks are on the house! I think my favourite was the Chi Chi Ma Ma, prepared by a nice young lady called Chi Chi whose mother is Greek and whose father is Turkish. There were bits of mellon in the drink which she called "love balls". The mind boggled. As some have said, it's a different life and, while the yachts follow the seasons, mostly Caribbean in winter, Med in summer, the crews don't get much down time, spending a lot of their waking hours keeping the yachts clean for the owners. The happiest crews tend to be those whose yachts are chartered by the owners, ensuring regular use and handsome tips that get shared around the crews. There's not much pulling on ropes in these sailing super yachts. Push-button winches see to that.

Many of the owners here are members of the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, set up in Porto Cervo in 1967 by the Aga Khan and a few of his chums. The club holds a series of regattas here every year. Next week it's the Rolex Maxi Cup. I did a piece based on that event in 2009.