Day 10

Thursday 6th June 12.00 BST

Position – 46 19 68N 30 44 12W

Log 1,235 miles (128 over last 24 hours)

Fab day!

I have had sunshine all yesterday afternoon and evening – I am dry, my clothes and boots are dry – Beagle is dry.  I have had no major snags to speak of.  I have taken 12 miles out of the fleet in the last 16 hours although I think, looking at the gribs, that there may be a bit more wind further north over the next 12 hours – so I may get a bit of a kicking during that time.  AND I HAD A DOLPHIN FOR COMPANY FOR A WHILE AT SUNSET. He was playing around my bow, diving under the boat; popping up to breath every few seconds and stayed with me for about 20 minutes before heading off to wherever he was going - Awesome.

This morning I feel great. Rested and positive. So I am not going to bore you with any ‘tales of woe’.  Everything seems to be ok at the moment – although I did have to revert to a jump on the engine this morning – but now I am a master mechanic – this proves no problem for me anymore.  The wind has gone light again at 5-6kn and moved into the W – so a bit on the nose, I have to either sail SW or NE and am tacking the boat regularly to stay on the making tack.

Yesterday late afternoon when I downloaded my gribs and email – I was blown away.  18 new emails all containing fantastic words of encouragement and good wishes – so thanks to all of you – I had no idea that so many people were following my progress – it’s just great.

As I am unable to answer all emails personally due to the time it takes (I have no ability to work ‘off line’ so I have to do it whilst connected – very slow and expensive) I would like to issue a few replies to everyone.

Janet, Colin, Lou and Po

Happy birthday J.Net from the mid-Atlantic – half way between Ireland and Newfoundland on the 30° line of longitude – I haven’t sent a card as I have been unable to find a post box nearby. (I know it was yesterday but I am on a different time-zone).  Thanks for the twitching advice and all your good wishes.

Susie, Lloyd, Jack and Katie

Thanks for all the good wishes

Lesley and family

I am not sure that my trials and tribulations are in the same class as Apollo 13! I am only in the mid-Atlantic, not outer space.  However I do agree with the similarity between me and Tom Hanks…… It made me laugh anyway

My uncles, Chris and Robert

Thanks for all the good wishes

All the Hawk boys

Thanks for all your support and look forward to kicking your arse in Falmouth week – go beat Hooligan this weekend at Loe Beach!

Jerry

Thanks for all the advice

Marco

Thanks for your advice and positive vibes – you have done it before so it’s great to hear your confidence in Beagle

Kat & Si

Thanks for all the offers of help and positive words – and of course baby wipes.

And congratulations – I hear that the fish are flying out of Kensa – it was never in any doubt J

John H and the SMSc bar

An interesting thought that my engine troubles may be a result of sabotage by Boris – I had not considered that – perhaps he has been bribed by Jeroboam or Tamarind – we shall find out later!

Mitch

I appreciate your confidence – but I think that winning is possibly a long shot.

Bobby E and the girls

Thanks for the good wishes.  Boris is my travelling companion and is a 6 inch teddy bear (see OSTAR day 1 for intro). The monitor is a self-steering system (see OSTER day 6 for full explanation)

Copper

Thanks for all your support and help – diesel looks ok at the moment – I have about 2/3 tank left and 40L in cans – that said I am using a lot, so we will see if I have enough!

Roseanne

Thanks for all the good wishes and glad you are enjoying the stories

Lisa

Thanks for the update to all the gossip in Portscatho and reminding me that the adventure and finishing are more important than the race

Will

Thanks for all your good wishes and the can of green

Bod

Thanks for the welsh jokes and for not sending me an invoice – although if I had a printer on board it might have come in useful a few days ago when I had ‘heads’ issues

Gladys

You are right – any scary moments out here are not a patch on being on the wrong end of your tongue back in the KW days as an innocent little 17 year old – you scared me shitless J

Susie M

Thanks for your well wishes and great to hear you are doing well – regards to Bobby

Mum

Thanks for all your good wishes – hope all is well back at the ranch and you are coping without me!!

Jak & Will

Thanks for keeping me in my place – life would not be the same without a daily telling off from you Jak. And good luck to Will on the Lions tour – I am very jealous

David Llewellyn

For all the help with the mechanics – I would not have got this far without it – you are a star.

Tors

Thanks for being an amazing daughter – I am soooo proud of you – and glad to hear that you are enjoying your job at Tregony school

………and of course to Brenda, who I speak to every day.  Thanks for letting me do this – I know it has not been easy for you, but don’t worry – the mighty Beagle will get me there ok – I am sure of it.

I am sure that I have probably missed a couple of people off – if I have I am sorry, it is not intentional, but at my age, the old memory can be a bit flakey!

Now on to more interesting and pressing matters – I have managed to read a few more chapters of ‘Fifty Shades’.  Now for those of you who have read it (probably all the women) - you will know the story; for those of you who have not (probably all the men) – don’t bother – but here is a brief synopsis.

The main male character is Christian Grey, a 27 year old self-made billionaire who is the most handsome man on the planet (as I have previously alluded to – a purely fictitious character).  He was born to a junkie who died when he was 4 – adopted by the good doctor and husband who educated him.  Seduced by some Mrs Robinson type whilst a teenager and turned into some kind of subservient sex-slave.  Strangely he now has a pension for S&M and wants to dominate the world – both in business and the bedroom.  In his muti-million dollar apartment, he has a ‘red room of pain’ – I will leave it to your imagination to work out how this is decked out.

Our heroine, Anastasia Steele, is an attractive, but slightly naive and innocent graduate, with a sharp wit who has fallen in love with Christian Grey.  She is a bit of a fantasist whose heroes exist in the English classics by Ausin, Bronte, Hardy etc – the likes of D’Urbeville and Darcy.  She has been asked to sign a ‘contract’ allowing him to do what he will with her in his red room and to be entirely subservient to him at all times. He has told her that (in his twisted world) – ‘there is a fine line between pain and pleasure’.  Both characters hail from Seattle – so perhaps it is not that difficult to believe that people like this actually exist!

Now call me old fashioned – but in my rather normal and simplistic world – pleasure and pain are at opposite ends of the spectrum – thus it is difficult to fathom how there can be a fine line between them.  I have always believed that pleasure is something to be grabbed and enjoyed in whatever format it may come; on the contrary, pain is to be avoided at all costs where possible.  Similarly, the distribution of pain to others (apart from the odd irritating little shit in the playground who deserved a good thump now and again) is not something that I feel most people of a relatively normal disposition would derive any pleasure from.  I don’t know, perhaps I am deluded in this belief.

Anyway, in order to try to understand better the workings of the deluded mind of said Christian Grey, I have decided to conduct my own experiment on board Beagle.  Therefore I have turned the forward cabin into my own ‘red room of pain’.  Now I don’t have all the necessary appliances and furnishings – namely I am a bit short on leather chesterfields and four-poster beds – but I have managed to muster a number of improvised implements and they fall in to the following categories.

• Restraints

Ropes of varying lengths and sizes, Velcro, cable ties and wire

• Gagging/Blindfolding

Sail repair cloth, flags, duct tape (could also be used for Restraint above), electrical tape and socks (dirty)

• Suspension

Shackles, chain (borrowed from the now defunct windvane) and more rope

• Pain distribution

Pliers, mole-grips, adjustable spanners, wooden plugs, a paddle (concocted from screwing my emergency tiller to a washboard) and a length of plastic waste pipe (which will suffice as a whip)

So I think I have all I need – except a willing ‘sub’

Boris?  I asked him if he was willing to take part in my little experiment and he didn’t say NO – so I will take that as a yes – although I can see fear in his eyes.  Now this fear maybe a result of me questioning him about the aforementioned ‘sabotage’ – which he fervently denies – but I am not sure that I believe him as he was looking a bit shifty when asked.  Maybe after a while in the red room – the truth will out!

I will publish the results of my experiment tomorrow – at which time I should be able to shed more light on whether or not ‘pleasure can be derived from pain’

Laters

C, Boris (worried) and Beagle