Happy Birthday Billy from Another Wide Sargasso Sea
Juno
Sun 7 Dec 2014 15:17
| 15:47.45N 044:33.6W Day Fourteen at Sea - 07/12/14 Wind built through the day and night yesterday which enabled Shrimpy to knock out the previous speed-over-the-ground record of 11.3 (Nav-man as detailed last week - self-certificated) with a cracking 12.2kts. Shrimps wasn't going to let this go unobserved so, with a few casual helm manouevres he had first Doc (MA, PhD Oxen & Cows etc, etc) then Skip, then Nav-man and even Schnoogle on deck at 2.15 a.m. After a moonlit kerfuffle, all in underpants, the jury retired to consider whether 12.2kts IN THE WRONG DIRECTION (easterly, when he should have been heading west) can rightfully claim the silver salver. He will certainly win the Most Improved Helmsman Award from here-on in. Large mats of seaweed appearing either side of our track which makes Gunnery (fishing) problematic. The Wide Sargasso Sea has drifted 1,000 north to meet our path. Like all of this trip, just more fiction made fact by circumstance. Great excitement this morning at the dawn "Mood Meeting". We have passed the 1,000 miles-to-run mark. We have somewhat lost our date compass for a while. We all had our hands up for 1066 but under a "thou" the next date anyone knew was Mohammed's (Peace Be Upon Him) birthday in the seven hundreds. Any ideas in an email (small) please. Seriously, the clock will be watched much more closely now. Skip will likely be having to use the lash more regularly now to keep the crew to their tasks. We understand, Reader, that one of your number has been following the other Juno - "Juno of London" - with great interest in the belief that that was us. They reported a severe hand injury yesterday from a spinnaker sheet. The injured party, "Fatty" Caroline Frew is a nice lady whom we met in Las Palmas. We wish her well. FYI she is no Fatty...but on that point, who did the mistaken reader feel was the fat one on this Juno? Either way - all aboard here are well, and that, despite a lot of rope handling, no hand friction burns have been presented to Doc (MA, PHAD, Ox, Etc Etc) at Sick Parade. The Sudocreme is aVirgin Tub. There are two bits of news from Blighty that are a cause for celebration on board. Firstly, Alison will return today from her trekking expedition into the Himalaya. Welcome back Darling! Secondly, one of our Gib delivery crew members, the finest of fellows, Mr William Benjamin Homan will celebrate his 20th birthday today. Many Happy Returns Billster from all aboard. Just had a cracking lunch cooked by Doc (MA, Oxen and Donkeys etc, etc) of Homan sausage and beluga lentils - during this the starboard lazarette bilge alarm went off again. Engineering disgusted - that fix was a Foredeck solution. Better go silence it now.... Expecting to see some ARC boats tomorrow as we all start to converge on Rodney bay. |