Blue Sky Times: Golf Champions, Pigs, and Cruise Ship Rescue Missions

Amidst the onset of colder days and grayer skies, our column wants to introduce you to some of the beautiful things happening around us. Take a break with some good news. 

Golf Champion

Bayleigh Teepa-Tarau, a 12-year-old New Zealander who began playing golf less than six months ago, became a national champion Sept. 7 after winning the Association of Intermediate and Middle Schools Games – which is New Zealand’s highest level sporting event for his age level, according to The Washington Post.

Teepa-Tarau triumphed with clubs borrowed from his golf coach’s brother-in-law and wearing sneakers and was a part of the first group from his school to go to the competition in 10 years due to budget constraints. Despite his limited experience, Teepa-Tarau secured the first medal at the competition for his school since 2008.

Pig at Belmont Harbor

A 9-year-old pot-bellied pig named Gilligan, has made the Belmont Harbor docks his new home, Block Club Chicago reported. Gilligan belongs to Michele and Tom Serbin, a couple from Mt. Greenwood who owns a boat in the harbor, according to Block Club. 

Gilligan is most at peace when on their 42-foot houseboat in his special little section under the hull. He has made friends with a number of sailors at the harbor this summer and was able to celebrate his 9th birthday with them while enjoying his favorite snack — blueberries. 

He has captured the attention of not only the people at Belmont Harbor but also hundreds of thousands more after a viral video of him swimming ashore was posted on the Barstool Chicago Instagram account.  

Not-So-Stranded Cruise Ship

Three days after running aground off the coast of Greenland, the luxury cruise ship MV Ocean Explorer and its 206 passengers were freed Thursday, according to the Associated Press. The ship was stranded off the world’s northernmost and Greenland’s only national park, Northeast Greenland National Park, which is similar in size to the combined area of France and Spain.

A research vessel operated by the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources freed the ship at high tide, and in a statement the owner of the Ocean Explorer, SunStone Ships, thanked the institute and their vessel Tarajoq for their efforts to free the ship.

“There have not been any injuries to any person onboard, no pollution of the environment and no breach of the hull,” SunStone wrote in the statement.

Have a great week everyone, and remember, as Florence and the Machine once sang in her song “Shake it out,” “It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back so shake him off”