17:47.5N 040:09.0W

1200 UT Thurs, 2 February

 

This is the guest bloggist signing in as I thought it was time for a little thumbnail sketch of the Lovesail crew.

First you have Captain ‘Astro’ Buxton,scorning the use of modern navigational techniques he is usually spotted around midday braced against a shroud with sextant in hand taking his noon sight.This is followed by 2 expletive filled hours with his head in the astronomical tables Finally our position is produced, unfortunately it appears to be a piece of ocean we passed two days ago.The next days attempt however resulted in a fix of such uncanny accuracy that even the Gps couldn’t compete- personally I am suspicious. When the sextant can be prised from his hand he often disappears down a dark hole in the deck to commune with the with the watermaker. Sure enough shortly afterwards the machine chatters into life,the tanks overflow and its showers for all.

Next comes Elizabeth’The Great Provider’. We must have around 500 items of stores aboard,Elizabeth knows the exact location of every one.Where is the second bottle of soy sauce I asked as a test, within minutes it was located deep in some far flung bilge in the nether regions of the boat.A succession of meals which you would pay good money for are produced,today is chocolate cake and fresh bread day.We are in danger of being the only crew who have crossed the Atlantic and arrived fatter than we started

Now we come to the youth element:

Lucy’Fish Whisperer’ Buxton, no sooner has she cast her lure overboard than a besotted dorade attaches itself to the line and is quickly hauled aboard where it is swiftly dispatched.Shortly thereafter the surprised fish finds itself in 5 steaks,a couple of filets,some sashimi and a few left overs for fish pie.

Then there is Craig ‘Bondi’Pinney.Craig could give a monkey agility lessons and is often to be found hanging upside down on the end of the boom attaching or undoing some gizmo.He wants to know if ‘Astro’ would like some aerial shots of the boat taken from the masthead and I think he is serious!Sometimes on watch I see him gazing wistfully at the rollers that pile up behind us and suspect he would far rather be surfing down the front of them than sitting in the cockpit.

Finally we come to Michael ‘Detox’Morland.I fondly imagined that the American navy were the only people who ran dry boats.Wrong.As a result many hours are whiled away dreaming of ice cold beer and rum cocktails.The rest is generally spent interfering with the smooth running of the boat and making stupid suggestions like ‘lets stop the boat and have a swim.Much to my surprise that one worked.

Ah well Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of Evian.