It is nearly snack time
so, this fine evening we, the red watch, have been
trusted with the task of the logbook…though finding what to say and write is
proving a minor issue. it is 1am after all…
today we have been admiring the
ever-changing scenery, it’s a complex study. sometimes the waves are big and
sometimes slightly bigger; sometimes your glass and fork will stay in their
place on the table and other times the kitchen turns into a slightly more
dangerous version of dinner-dodge ball. with the changing winds we’ve been doing
a lot of sail handling, we can safely say that all of us now are masters of the
reef, having shaken it out and put it back in multiple times a day. added to
this we set the main topsail this afternoon only to take it down a couple of
hours later! this continual ‘action’ is probably the only thing keeping all of
us from becoming horrendously overweight over these weeks – our love of food is
becoming borderline obsessive! not only do we eat pancakes and French toast for
breakfast, delicious leftovers and freshly baked bread for lunch and simply
awesome dinners every day but every watch is peppered with snacks and drinks to
‘keep us going’…keep us rolling more like! Red watch (12-4 for those who don’t
know yet) also get the privilege of late night snacks, if it’s a sweet chilli
sauce inspired meal, all the better!
but too much on food. (it is one of
the most common themes of our night talks, seconded only to outrageously bad
singing). its been quite a wildlife spotting day with blue watch seeing pilot
whales and us just being visited by dolphins glowing in the dark on the bow.
Albatross and storm petrels make regular appearances. In the night our main
concern is keeping warm which involves cramming on as many layers as possible
and breaking into ‘inspired’ dance moves on the deck. that and coffee. in time
you become quite attached to your outer layers and impressed by others – Herkki
has the most impressive ‘all in one’ suit (though it’s still warm here compared
to Estonia!), Richard’s luminous mining jacket is a beacon in the night and
Emily’s 90’s jacket is swiftly becoming a thing of legend. All of these are
totally outshone however by Linda’s incredible collection of inner, mid, outer
and storm layers of sailing gear – an average night layer count usually totals
about 9!
Still, we are warm (ish), well fed and happy (bordering slightly
sea-mental). As the days blend together and we get used to our unusual sleeping
hours slowly but surely the days are becoming busier with everyone emerging
between their watches (until it rains) and lunchtimes stretch into hours of
chat, sign-language lessons and laughter. We even had a movie night this
evening…Master and Commander to prep us for the inevitable ‘saltier-than-thou’
discussions when we meet the other ships on the other side (“the waves were THIS
BIG, honest”)
With all our love to our friends and family, Richard,
Herkki and Emily. (ps. its nearly snack
time!!!
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