Fistbump

photo by Ruben J

 

 

Newport Beach is the only waterway I know of outside Venice, Italy where gondoliers from different servizios actually pass each other on the water.

Believe it or not, at one point we had as many as seven different gondola companies here.

 

You might think this would create a rivalry,

but the truth is that we are all friends.

As I've said for years:

"Nobody understands you, and that weird thing you do,

like someone who does that weird thing too."

 

Gondoliers in Newport encourage their passengers to toast folks in other gondolas with raised glasses, hearty "buon giorno" and "buona sera" greetings are exchanged, and then there are the fistbumps and such.

 

Here you see Parker and me carrying on the fistbump tradition:

 

Of course there are the high-fives, hat tips,

and the occasional "high-sticking"

(where both gondoliers reach out with the ends of their oars

and whack them together).

 

Big thanks to Ruben J for catching this moment on camera.
We have such a great job, rowing these beautiful boats in this great place.