All well on board Rocket / Stop Rhino Poaching. I feel I always need to start off with this statement just to allay fears before the rest of the note :).
Today we past the 30deg W mark so ship time has now moved an hour and is now four hours behind SA. Our next move will be to Rio time!! Somehow it does not make us feel we are going to get there an hour earlier...
At times one may want to compare sailing on the Atlantic to driving in the Karoo. Big mistake. There is absolutely nothing here that tells you if you are progressing or not. No mountain or tree to measure by - just waves which have a disturbing tendency to all look the same. So if there was no GPS, one would be very hard pressed to be convinced that any movement has been made.
There is apparent movement (as there is apparent wind speed and apparent wind angle). We are looking forward to a definitive item on the horizon which helps us be sure that movement is absolute.
We can also confirm that trade between the South America and Africa in general is non existent. We have seen no planes, no trains, no cars, no ships (just one apparent ship light early one morning). (BTW we aren't really looking for trains and cars...)
Today was boy scout day - and we thank them most sincerely. Gareth remembered from his boy scout days how to develop a makeshift stove with a sardine can, cardboard box and wax (we used diesel). We developed three such burners before lighting them all to cook up a pasta storm. Three were too many. We found this out very rapidly with safety officer Johan flying around the deck with the fire extinguisher (just in case). We managed to control the blaze with wet rags and tinfoil - our fire extinguisher is still intact.
With renewed gusto we now boiled the pasta using just one such black belching stove. It worked so well that the pasta was overcooked (again) and developed into a mushy glue (again)which stuck fast to the teeth (again) and threatened to clog up the throat on its way down to the stomach. We are of
course advised that the goodness is still there. This is getting a little thin - but we certainly are not :).
The days are roasting hot - we suspect close on 40 deg C. Inside the cabin is a sauna. And if one is truly in dogbox, then you are sent to put water from the water maker into bottles. This procedure is based in a dungeon like hellhole called the laziruth. This cave-room is based at the back of the boat and is accessible via two trapdoors from the deck and with zero air supply. Inside is the full array of breakable steering assembly, 5000 beers (we have hardly touched our supply), ropes, more ropes, exhaust gas piping from the motor, every sail which has not already made it to the front sail room (ex bedroom), vacuum cleaner and 87 other "things" which we may or may not require and which are all strapped down in this sweat room. Water duty does not attract too many volunteers.
Progress has varied from excellent to stagnant at various times of the day and night. The two bad night watches remain the midnight and 4 am shifts. Sleep is rather scarce at night and in the day it's just too hot. So the crew may look a little bedraggled at times. But of course we all comment on how good the new watch looks when they come on - just in case they say they feel so bad they need to go back to "bed" (of course you know by now there are not too many true beds).
Lots of love and best wishes to all our family and friends
Regards
Mike on behalf of Team Rocket/Stop Rhino Poaching
-------------------------------------------------
Today we past the 30deg W mark so ship time has now moved an hour and is now four hours behind SA. Our next move will be to Rio time!! Somehow it does not make us feel we are going to get there an hour earlier...
At times one may want to compare sailing on the Atlantic to driving in the Karoo. Big mistake. There is absolutely nothing here that tells you if you are progressing or not. No mountain or tree to measure by - just waves which have a disturbing tendency to all look the same. So if there was no GPS, one would be very hard pressed to be convinced that any movement has been made.
There is apparent movement (as there is apparent wind speed and apparent wind angle). We are looking forward to a definitive item on the horizon which helps us be sure that movement is absolute.
We can also confirm that trade between the South America and Africa in general is non existent. We have seen no planes, no trains, no cars, no ships (just one apparent ship light early one morning). (BTW we aren't really looking for trains and cars...)
Today was boy scout day - and we thank them most sincerely. Gareth remembered from his boy scout days how to develop a makeshift stove with a sardine can, cardboard box and wax (we used diesel). We developed three such burners before lighting them all to cook up a pasta storm. Three were too many. We found this out very rapidly with safety officer Johan flying around the deck with the fire extinguisher (just in case). We managed to control the blaze with wet rags and tinfoil - our fire extinguisher is still intact.
With renewed gusto we now boiled the pasta using just one such black belching stove. It worked so well that the pasta was overcooked (again) and developed into a mushy glue (again)which stuck fast to the teeth (again) and threatened to clog up the throat on its way down to the stomach. We are of
course advised that the goodness is still there. This is getting a little thin - but we certainly are not :).
The days are roasting hot - we suspect close on 40 deg C. Inside the cabin is a sauna. And if one is truly in dogbox, then you are sent to put water from the water maker into bottles. This procedure is based in a dungeon like hellhole called the laziruth. This cave-room is based at the back of the boat and is accessible via two trapdoors from the deck and with zero air supply. Inside is the full array of breakable steering assembly, 5000 beers (we have hardly touched our supply), ropes, more ropes, exhaust gas piping from the motor, every sail which has not already made it to the front sail room (ex bedroom), vacuum cleaner and 87 other "things" which we may or may not require and which are all strapped down in this sweat room. Water duty does not attract too many volunteers.
Progress has varied from excellent to stagnant at various times of the day and night. The two bad night watches remain the midnight and 4 am shifts. Sleep is rather scarce at night and in the day it's just too hot. So the crew may look a little bedraggled at times. But of course we all comment on how good the new watch looks when they come on - just in case they say they feel so bad they need to go back to "bed" (of course you know by now there are not too many true beds).
Lots of love and best wishes to all our family and friends
Regards
Mike on behalf of Team Rocket/Stop Rhino Poaching
-------------------------------------------------
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