Conditions on board improve
Summer time and the living is easy; fish are jumping...... I'm going to have to be careful, as this log is rapidly turning into a musical, but at least its one based on a very pleasant current reality. The wind has all but died, the ocean has become almost a millpond and we are now motor-sailing calmly onward hunting for the north easterlies that the grib files predict further south and west. All that noise (the rolling and banging and crashing) is a thing of the past; memories of the drenching we all got last night are fading and the steering has become so easy that one or two of the more confident crew members are using their feet (it's easier to manage one's beer that way). More importantly it is a whole lot easier to get some decent sleep.
So, rested and at ease, the crew of Murphy are going about their daily tasks: Lucinda is splitting her time between working out her eight favourite tracks for tomorrow's Desert Island Discs (I think she has one so far) and trying to capture close-ups of flying fish (presumably for the publicity campaign she will be launching for SODOFF* when she gets home);Jake, working as it were on an opposite tack, is fishing for bigger prey, using as bait the kamikazes from last night that SODOFF failed to spot; Andrew is steering the boat (with his hands, not his feet) while cudgelling his brains to whittle down to eight his shortlist of 100 or so tracks that can't in all conscience be left out. Jeff is having a well-earned sleep, while those other vital crew members, the washing machine and water-maker, are hard at work below decks. All is becoming fragrant and dry once again.
Company
Coral IV has been a constant companion for the last couple of days – sometimes ahead, sometimes behind, but always visible mainly on the AIS system and less frequently by sight - but it has been very nice to be close to an old Rally Portugal friend. Today, after the wind dropped and shifted, Otto finally broke away and headed further north – I hope we are still going the right way. We did have a very close encounter with one other boat, however, a red-hulled sloop from Barrow called Dance Away, whose seasoned owners said they were not part of the ARC.
Breakages and Repairs
We thought we had lost the radar, which in the relatively confined space of the boat you might thing would be difficult, but it was nowhere to be found until an accidental shoulder knocking against the fuse panel turned off the autopilot/radar switch and once it was turned back on, lo and behold the radar reappeared – turned out it just needed the standard computer fix – if all else fails turn it all off and turn it all on again.
The fridge evaporation unit has been broken as a result of some over-enthusiastic defrosting (yes, I know the ice was tough, but was the drill really necessary?) and can't be fixed until we arrive in St Lucia, but luckily the freezer and the drinks fridge (thank heavens we ticked that box on the order form) have combined to save the day. We just have to eat an awful lot of natural yoghurt very quickly.
Jeff's Favourites
Last night happy hour went with a real swing as Jeff revealed to us his eight favourite discs, most of which had a little story to go with them. They were:
Dire Straits – Brothers in Arms (his banker)
Phil Collins – In the Air Tonight
Bob Marley and the Wailers – Soul Rebel
Simply Red – Home
The Proclaimers – I'm gonna Be (500 miles)
John Lennon – Imagine
Sting – Fields of Gold
Queen – Another one bites the dust
How good is that lot. Meanwhile the committee has formally turned down Andrew’s request to be allowed to present one or two more songs than the regulation eight, giving as its reason that 35 is actually quite a lot more than eight.
Footnote: *SODOFF – Saviours of disoriented off-course Flying Fish - at this stage only a working title for the charity, but who knows?
Andrew, Lucinda, Jake and Jeff
Noon, Friday 7th December 2012