8:35N 19:03W
Tales of Amok's Adventures
Mike Jones
Sun 10 Jan 2010 04:34
We had an excellent result yesterday with our noon to noon run, which we have taking place onboard at 1300. We sailed 156 miles in 24 miles!! This is the greatest noon - noon distance we have had so far in the boat and feel excited to have such a good run at it. We were absolutely smoking along. There is a calibration error which we still have to address in our instruments, so there may be improvement still.
"Shut up, I am reading" yes, folks, those were the exact words spoken, but they did not come from the usual book lover's lips of myself, Meercat or Drama Queen. No, they were uttered by Moby aka Toby when the 3 of us had the audacity to want to TALK in the cockpit one recent afternoon when he was trying to read the gripping story of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart race; "Cruel Winds" written by Rob Matthews. Rob was a participant in the race in which 2 people onboard his boat died, due to atrocious conditions.
We have all been in a state of anticipation and hope for the last few years, wondering when (not if) Toby would get bitten by the book bug. Sure, he enjoys his motorbike mags, thanks Bob C in Perth and bizarrely, he has been known to buy a copy of Auto-trader with his spare money (why would anybody do that??, it takes such a long time for the plot to develop), but yes, finally we think the bug has bitten.
Queen gave me the Hobart race book for my Christmas present and is a fantastic read. For me, watching Toby read that book with such focus and attention, was something akin to watching your newborn baby sleeping. You know there's no need to, but you catch yourself doing it. (Then unlike a newborn, he catches you doing it, and then you are in trouble, why are you watching me, why why why)
As soon as he finished it, I managed to wrestle it off him so I could read it myself, (yes, I concede that I let him read one of my Christmas books before me). Every few pages, he would ask me where I was in the book, what had happened, how strong the wind was, had they had 1 roll or 2. These interruptions weren't at all annoying, they were a welcome indication that he wanted to discuss a book we had in common. A novel idea.
He's now discovered a book onboard by Michael Crichton. I think the interest started with reading the Atlantic Islands Sailing Pilot by Anne Hammick, as it told him about the port he was about to visit. He kept asking how big the port is, what do they do there etc, and we kept saying "go read Anne's book".
Pandora and I have both read "We need to talk about Kevin" as I think I mentioned previously. This is a haunting book, which still has me dwelling on it, some 2 weeks after I have finished it. I had read excellent reviews about it, so I snapped it up when I saw it for sale in a second hand book shop in Falmouth. If you come across it, read it. I'll say no more. Don't plan on being a party animal when you finish it.
Lastly, Queen and I are both reading "Monsoon" by Wilbur Smith. How do two people read the same book at the same time, I hear you ask?? Well, I read it when I am on night watch, ie in stealth mode. I hadn't intended to steal his book, but I picked it up so see what it was about, and in usual Wilbur Smith fashion, it got me. He writes very graphic stories about sailing and Africa. I first started reading his books when I was sailing to Rio, can't believe that was 26 years ago. Old tart, me.
I actually got this Wilbur book in a strange way. I had taken a pile of books to the salvation army book container which they have in Falmouth and it was so full, I could hardly get my books in. Finally managed to fit them in (as I WAS NOT taking them home), when I noticed that the Wilbur SMith book had fallen out of the bin. It wouldn't go back in, and given that I hadn't read this one, I took it. The kids gave me a really hard time about stealing, the whole way home. ARGH.
Anyway lubbers, just wanted to let you know that we do engage in other activities onboard, other than eating. Seems the last few blogs have been rather food-centric. Just one thing I will say about food, is that Queen bought a half a hundred weight of carrots in Cape Verde for some reason, and accordingly, we have now entered the joyous phase of blanching said carrots and freezing them, and making carrot cake to use the damn things up before they turn themselves into soup. Nothing like boosting the local economy through the purchase of carrots...
chins up!!
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