Gone Sailing / Pushing - Issue 5
The 0915 sched has just confirmed that we have spent the last 12 hours pushing a steam train load of current, with the wind also dying out through the night we covered just 64 nautical miles in the last 12 hours... not good! We now seem to be through the worst with the wind picking up to 10-15 knots and our speed over the ground is showing little to no current effecting us.
Although a slow night it was stunning to be on deck, clear skies with just a few small rain squalls, zilllions of stars with many of them falling out of the sky - I counted at least 5 last night. With no lights or city lume and a very small moon the stars punch out an amazing amount of light which seems even brighter than a full moon night. It is an absolutely beautiful feeling ghosting along with the bubbling of the ocean and the creaking of the boat the only sounds.
The temperature is definitely rising with everyone wearing less and less layers. I am now only in 4 layers of thermals instead of 6, possibly a bit extreme but i am a spoilt tropics cat!
On sched time we also just passed 155 degrees of longitude which meant we had to advise race control that the HF radio, all systems, the boat and crew are in good condition to continue the race. A celebrity sip was had to mark this milestone!
All the crew are fit and well except for our first minor injury with Stoopy fossicking too deeply into the fridge and knocking the spring that holds the incredibly heavy lid open with his elbow which resulted in a nice cut above his left eye. The sympathy shown from all of the crew was overwhelming with James playing nurse and decorating his melon with criss-cross band-aid action. Poor Stoops seems to be re-covering well steering us out of the current and back into good speeds.
Galley Action:
Lasagne last night went down a treat.
Jesse was the galley star this morning cooking up bacon and egg sangers for everyone - good work Jesse!
Sunset Concert:
Nick Fo lashed out on the guitar yesterday afternoon, belting out a few old favorites and composing a few new numbers to add to the ever growing Samskara repertoire. We need the chords to Peace Train if anyone can email them to us that would be great.
Nature Spots:
Dead squid on deck - keeping for bait.
Complete rainbow - if only a camera can capture that image..
Right here right now:
The Waifs tunes pumping through the speakers, all on deck, Leon rigging fishing line in search of Mahe Mahe, James searching locker for sika-flex to fix some head piping, Mike steering, everyone else trying not to laugh at Stoopy's wound!
Not much else to report other than the crew cheering that our speed over ground is now showing 10.5 knots. How quickly we are all pushing away the memories of wallowing around last night - we're back! We hope!
Signing off on behalf on the Samskara Crew, The Ships Cat.
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