A Milestone
A large milestone has
been passed. The log now shows a
greater mileage than “distance to go” on the computer. We are over half way; at least as far as
distance goes. We have been very
fortunate with strongish favourable winds for the first week and it would be
unreasonable to expect those conditions to continue throughout. We are currently bowling along in about
20 to 25 knots as we have been doing for much of the time. The sky is bright but it has just as
often been overcast. The weather is
warm but not hot.
We cannot see Our Diary because we do not have
a fast enough connection but I should say that the boat speeds shown in the
boxes over the position flags are wrong – I think there is a bug in the
software. We have actually been
doing about 6 to 7 knots much of the time; something over 150 miles per
day. The courses shown seem about
right. Our preferred course now
brings the wind dead astern which is an uncomfortable point of sailing so we
have to head off 10 degrees or more.
This will slow our rate of progress towards our destination somewhat even
if the wind does keep up. Sleep poses problems. The mate has not yet made up her mind
where to establish her nest. I
sometimes see her ghostly form passing through the glim of the nav. station
lights with her duvet tucked underneath her arm. She is on one of her migrations. The double berth in the aft cabin has a
large lee cloth divider for use at sea but there is still room in each half for
a fair bit of slipping and sliding about.
However, creature comforts are near at hand and personal nick knacks all
about. The saloon berths, on the
other hand, are snug and suffer less motion but one is subjected to the terrible
cacophony of creaking, groaning, banging, rattling, slurping, mysterious tapping
and other noises, each of which might presage the keel dropping off or the mast
falling over the side. It isn’t
easy. When on watch at night the mate sings hymns
quietly in the cockpit. This is
charming except that in my befuddled state I am not always sure from which bank
of the The Ipod is a wonderful innovation for the boat
this year. All our CDs are on it,
or could be, and it saves all that locker space and “feeding” the machine. When in harbour we play it through the
ship’s amplifier and car-type stereo system. At sea it keeps us awake at night. Feeling like a snooze? Try the Regimental Band of Her Majesty’s
Coldstream Guards. That will make
you sit up and take notice. As to the ensign, a correspondent has been
in conference with another bar-room lawyer in a land far away beyond the
Bosphorus and points out that we are five hundred miles from the nearest ship
and not obliged to wear an ensign on the open ocean anyway. Quite right, but the poor barky would
feel denuded and bereft without her colours. It wouldn’t do. Anyway, our correspondent goes on to
describe the hot, salty tears of proper national feeling coursing down his
cheeks as he watched from a foreign hill one of Her Majesty’s brave fighting
ships leave harbour with an absolutely colossal white ensign streaming out
astern. His breast heaving and his
knees trembling, he had to sit down quietly with a double malt to recover his
composure. Quite so. Now, here's the rub. In two
weeks or less we hope to be dropping our hook in foreign waters. Will another proud Englishman watching
from a nearby hill be moved to tears?
Probably. |