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George - Westward Ho.



Well what a day! with the fridge problems, We were celebrating our Festival of meat yesterday lunch when there was uproar, Jim found a twenty pence piece under his burger, it took quiet a time to convince him that it wasn't the one discussed in earlier blogs. In fact it was only after I showed him this one didn't have any teeth marks on it. All this came after I managed to stop the crew calling him 'Jonah' Jim. I think I am gaining his trust because he let me open door 2 on this Advent calendar this morning...TB

December arrived with a vengeance, the fallout from which can still be heard reverberating around the cabins on board S/Y George. The sun came up to clearing skies and favourable winds allowing us to make steady progress through the reducing swell on a course of 260 degrees. After sunset and shortly after Mason's Twilight fixes the world seemed perfect, but as we all know the world isn't like the movies... but that's for Tim Dibner (Gold Star and two bars), hero of the day to recount, needless to say the total allowance of Gold Stars for the crossing have now been used up and Tim's dentist is looking forward to his safe return.

Inspector Jap decided it was time to review the evidence, he sensed the work of a saboteur. What is the significance of the twenty pence pieces? A thorough search of of all cabins failed to discover any further coins, although Tim reported possibly seeing one gaffer-taped to the top of the mast but didn't hang around long enough to be absolutely sure. What the search of the boat did reveal was the location of forty missing eggs (laying to rest the rumours of midnight omelette snaffling once and for all) along with a previously unnoticed, and disappointingly significant 13 degrees of variation...SN

This morning we've caught our first fish. Hoorah!! the banana blessing worked. I was sitting on the back seat minding my own business washing my smalls when the rod and reel jerked suddenly, I though I may have dropped a pair of my high-siders over the back of the boat and caught them up in the lure (this would have slowed the boat down considerably). But no. It was a surprisingly fightless Dorado that is now, parts of it anyway, marinating in citrus juices in our fridge. This has added an additional dynamic to the eating competition, which, by the way, Tim is winning. The disappointing news is that we've just been told by JDR that we only managed 110 miles yesterday, our worst day yet, with very little winds. Captain Tim heroically went up the mast last night as darkness fell to retrieve a halyard that stayed up there when the head strap of our large jib failed...thank goodness it did not happen in the conditions we had in the previous 48 hours! We will have a medal ceremony later on and Steve may have to give one of his gold stars back if this kind of heroic behavior continues! The stitch up of the sail over the last 12 hours is nothing when compared to the other stitch-ups that have been occurring on board!... MK 17N 29W and heading straight for St. Lucia

Poriot had a hunch and there was only one man who he could trust. After dark Hastings was sent up the mast, as he got to the top, 'sacra blue' he exclaimed, Poroit was right again, stuck to the fin of the Windex was a twenty pence piece. Could this have been the cause of the 13 degree variation that Mason had found? The next morning Poriot surfaced early, and as he looked out he saw Hastings and the loggist in deep conversation at the stern of the boat. He looked to the bow to keep a watchful eye, the sea was flat calm with no wind and the sun was out. Moments later he looked back and saw just Hastings. Before he could shout man overboard, Hastings, in his captains role, throw himself selflessly and courageously into the water to mount a rescue. Was the loggist pushed or did he jump in a moment of desperation. The boats log would later read that it was just an early morning swim mid Atlantic but perhaps only 'George' new the truth as he headed west ish.....JDR

I made my first confession yesterday. I had placed an alarm clock hidden discretely in Tim's bedroom after it took us three attempts the night before to wake him for his watch. After his heroic climb up the mast I did not have the heart to wake him up in the middle of the night during his six hours sleep. Perhaps I will put it in Mason's tonight. Tim did a great job, definitely a gold star moment. Glad it wasn't me who had to go up the mast as I am scared of heights. There are advantages of liking and eating too much chocolate. MN


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