Mutiny averted-- just
Norman G III
Sun 27 Nov 2011 22:11
tonight at 2000 our position is
16 44 14N 28 23 29W
everyone has their own reasons for taking on challenges that are just a little bit out of their everyday comfort zones.
under presseure people revert to type and especially when situations are not exactly perfect tensions arise. within every group there are dynamics at play and when the chips are down mountains become molehills and critical tension becomes criticism. on a small boat when there are 4 strong personalities all living together without an escape route sooner or later matters will come to a head. in our case sooner!
ive gone to sleeping in the main saloon because the noise and motion in the aft cabin are unbearable so basically im sleeping on a settee. this morning my shift was 3-6 so when I weas woken by the other three laughing and joking in the cockpit at 7.30 i must admit to being a little cranky. Then after only a couple of minutes I heard the dissenters muttering
i think hes using the wrong wire on the fishing line
why dont we turn to st lucia ive got to be there blah blah blah
now my two great friends and mentors LGF and Big Bro captains of industry have certain rules for management and one of them is
follow me or f off
and
always fight fire with a bigger fire
so on opening one eye i immediatley launched into attack mode
ok ok i said ive heard it all now you two take control today and me and skip will have a day off
skip looked like a rabbitt caught in headlights.. he wants to please the passengers but knows he cant side against me so he started hopping nervously from foot to foot and stammering about
well it all depends on the direction of the wind and we can only try to chase the trade winds for so long
i shot him a viscious look and he went below
the moment was now to pounce but golly deftly side stepped an argument by giggling and saying i was being touchy
ok i can wait
matters stayed calm but we were all walking on egg shells-- it just needed a catalyst
skip and i spoke about the weather and studied the forecast and decided to head further south. we were hoping that we would hit the trade winds at as lower level and therefore make our sail heading back to st lucia a little more of a comfortable angle for Jason
golly and jason however just wanted to change direction and i could see they were also waiting for a chance to mutiny
the chance arrived with an email from the eminent nautical meteorologist and tactical sailing guru L Watherston to her partner Jason . hardly able to contain his glee he summoned golly to read the detailed predicitons she had made and together called me to account.
lucy says weve gone too far south said jason
what does she know i said
shes looking at the tracker and we are too far south
we are a sailing yacht not a herd of cattle said skip much to my amusement
the battle was on
golly whom im relaibly informed comes from a historic naval family based at the royal heaton park lake yacht club chirped up
lets change now im bored how many times ive heard this over the years
go and read some emails from susie i replied-- i knew this would be a long job as a more prodigious emailer there is not
but remember were going south until we get the trade winds and thats final
with a stomp i was gone to put ouit the fishing lines for another days battle with the fish
south we headed at 6 knots and as the day progressed i began to wonder if the decision was correct. skip made a full bacon egg sausage and beans fry up for lunch and at 2 went off to sleep leaving us all on deck golly reding Jason listening to music and me on watch.
the mutterings started again at about 4
why are we so far south
but i just ignored them and read
16.57 tonight the sea changed. all of a sudden the wave set direction changed to a westerly swell of abot 2 m but very uniform about every 7 seconds and the wind shifted tyo NE- thank goodness the start of the tradewinds. i said nothing for another 15 mins and thentold the two mutineers if they felt the change too. skip arrived and to eberyones relief at 17.30 we changed direction to a heading of 256 degrees-- exactly what we need to make st lucia-- onlyt 1888 miles to go and a mutiny averted
tonight i have a sunday list of people to mention
lucy and her mum and dad and lucy s sister keep the emails coming lucy he relies on them
James mum and dad-- im looking after him as normal but we have to get his snoring sorted its like having a small bovine on board
susie Jason wants to know if did you taught golly the specail cucumber relish recipe? keep the emails coming he smiles every time he reads them and gollys dad gerry-- if you need pharmaceutical advice or a source of cheap medicine give me a call
from me a special mention to big bro and LGF- i expect to hear big things from you both when i get back and also to Mario daniella marina and mauro and the ceccarellis in itally-- lots of love
So at the end of the day for all friends and family who read the blog and look at the tracker we are finally on a making course for st lucia and hope to have a couple of weeks of fantastic sailing and fishing ahead before we reach land again
ps for more than 2 days now we havent seen any other ships or yachts-- maybe we are too far south!
sleep tight
MG