Sunburnt Rabbi

Posted at 12:00 PM, Tuesday, February 12, 2008

I am in day two of recovering from a rather nasty case of sunburn. In these "Sun Smart" times, only the truly stupid get burned over the whole body. The rest of us only get burned where we neglect to apply--or in my case re-apply--sunscreen. I'm burned on the sides of both feet, the back of my right calf, and on both collarbones, which is particularly vexing, since the seatbelt is rubbing on the burn on my right side. I'm applying lotion like crazy and hope to be well on the way to recovery by tomorrow.

The cause of the burn was the synagogue's Day at the Beach on Sunday, held on a picture-perfect day where the temperature just touched 80 degrees. We met at Seacliff Beach, one of numerous pristine beaches to the west and south of Adelaide. It houses the local yacht club and is a terrific place to launch boats. We had nine boats on hand: four one-man canoes, two three-man canoes, and three small sailboats. This was a whole new world for Nadav, and he absolutely loved it. Avid sailor Tom Sag and synagogue president Larry Lockshin took Nadav out for his first sail. He returned half an hour later beaming like the sun and ready to jump right into the next boat leaving the beach. He next paddled out in a canoe, and then had another sail a bit later in the day. Yonatan went out paddling twice, including a turn with Australia Scouts leader Danny Sag, who let him capsize the boat just as they were nearing the shore. The combination of an aching back and a history of seasickness kept me on the shore, where I enjoyed the novelty of being kid-less for up to thirty minutes at a time.

We stayed for nearly four hours, enjoying the company, the sand, and the tranquility of the day. It was only in the evening when the evidence of damage started to pop up on various parts of my body. Yonatan and Nadav, who had been meticulous in getting their sunscreen applied, were spared!