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Lancelot II - Day 10?11?



Date: Thurs 6th Dec 2012
Time: 11:30 UTC
Position: 15’47.6N 44’16.3W
SOG: 4.9 – 7.0 knots
COG: 282 (Course straight at St Lucia at last!!!!)
Weather: Squalls/Sun/Cloud/Rain/Snow... well not really :)
Wind S – SW –W – NW 4-10 knots
 
Dolphins, Squirrels, Doctor on Board, Texan Rituals and now waiting for Frank.
 
Just as I thought we had set into a rhythm the unexpected is beginning to happen. Certain hidden skills are now being identified in peoples actions. What the rest of the crew did not realise is that we are blessed with some of the highest squirrel abilities known to man. Above all, we have “Galileo” – the sights shooting navi - Oscar. By general consensus (we like to call it fact, Oscar prefers to name it fiction) his ability to find snacks in black holes in the boat are now legendary. So much so, that the crew have decided to honour him with Jeddai status as “Luke Squirrel Walker” Oscar. He is of course not alone, “Sneaky” Pete is also a man with these innate capabilities to smell snack food anywhere on the vessel and his is now bestowed with “OB1 Squirrel”, able assistant to “Luke Squirrel Walker”. However, we have seen the opposite from “FishFinder” John. He has no squirrel capacity at all. In fact I suspect that there are more legendary stories about what John has not found in his life. I am sure that we shall hear more on this one.
 
On one of our night watches, whilst at the helm I was a witness to a stunning piece of surgical skill from our Co-skipper Sam. We also like to use sterilised tools for operations, so a rusty old Leatherman was ideal to remove a parted ear earphone from “Texan” Ryan’s ear. Such skill was clearly learnt from watching all eight seasons of House. A fine piece of skill in challenging times.
 
In an eventful watch we had massive wind shifts with led us to be heading North then to the South, This of course was in a squall as we head towards the light weather with copious quantities of rain. The mention of squalls heading towards the Caribbean reminds me of one of my favourite films “Captain Ron”. I actually believe that the film was based on Jacko’s life story and as such I expect more surprises on the way. From now he is “Captain Ron” as he now shares the same hair style.
 
Moving back to the rain, you have to admire a sleeping man who can smell the rain, such that he wakes up and does some strange ritual. Step forward “Texan” Ryan. As soon as he realised it was raining he was on deck getting a full fresh water shower. Myself and Jacko enjoyed the fresh water shampoo, but I have never seen a man wake up for this. An astounding awareness of his surroundings.
 
Through the squalls we finally came across a pod of Dolphins. Photographs were taken but apparently the Dolphins were invisible, however, five crew were eyewitness’s to their presence so they must have been there. After seeing the Dolphins “Captain Ron’” thought process went into action. If Dolphins are present, Tuna will be behind. So out with the fishing hook to catch Frank (The name of the fish that we will catch). Some hope for a dorado, others hate to catch a tuna again.
 
Three additional highlights. We have now sailed for more than 2,000 nM, we have less than 1,000 nM to go and we ate the last fresh vegetables and fruits yesterday.
 
I leave you now waiting for Frank to turn up.
 
Callum – as you can see we are trying to catch supper – but if not we have dried pasta and lots of cans of all sorts to keep us going – see you soon :)
 
Neil for all of Lancelot II.

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