33:33N 014:56W

Tales of Amok's Adventures
Mike Jones
Thu 3 Dec 2009 12:30
Greetings from Amok. Another good day's mileage of 160 miles which is great progress. We are a couple hundred miles off Madeira with the wind still in our favour.

The wind vane, which runs purely on wind power is steering us along well, though doesn't steer quite as exact a course as the autohelm. It is however, much quieter and better value; the green alternative.

Everybody is in good spirits, Pandora is keeping us amused by attempting to converse in French. This sounds good, but her vocabulary is limited to "are you hungry, are you thirsty, are you tired, my name is Pandora" and a few choice swear words. I must work hard to change this, if only for the annoyance factor. Toby, on the other hand, keeps asking when lunch is as only a teenage boy can...He is a great sport by volunteering to climb down in the cramped lazarette to check things for Mike. He'll be pleased when his fishing activities produce some results. He kept Mike company on a night watch last night, good lad.

Fantastic dinner last night, we all had to swallow humble pie after giving Mike such a teasing about his blessed spice jars. Especially when they produce such tasty morsels which we shared together at the end of the day. Night seems a long business, which runs from 17:30 to about 07:00. Our night watch pattern starts at 21:00 and runs through to 09:00, Mike and I do 3 hours each then change.

Our bodies seem to be adapting well, I still yearn for my bunk at the end of the second night watch, but have at least stopped dwelling on it so obsessively for the last half of the watch. Pandora encouraged me to do some pilates streches last night on the floor of the cabin which caused great hilarity as we kept sliding downhill. The stretches are important, as our muscles are contracting all the time we are awake, to combat the motion.

Mike is investigating the ship's power and I have been tasked with diary keeper's duties. Great, now I have a title. Job done.

keep your chins up landlubbers, there's more madness coming soon.

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