Dear Family and Friends
Happy birthday Gareth. Sorry no sleep in, no bacon & eggs, no 5l can of beer - wait for Rio . At least there was no mast duty or underwater duty - small mercies...
All is well aboard Rocket / Stop Rhino Poaching with expectations rising daily. We have now seen two planes and a large container ship - all bound for Europe and indication that we are nearing the Brazilian coastline.
We do have some minor issues to report. One of our crew (he wishes to remain anonymous) complained bitterly of constipation. This immediately evoked endless remedies from this very sympathetic male crew. The constipatee decided he would need to try deep breathing exercises during his visit to the heads. Our renowned medical officer (Johan) immediately noted that this was a stool which needed delivering - not a baby! Rather than take this matter further let me rather just confirm that a robust boy was delivered late at night after a 34 minute heads visit. The crew applauded with great gusto and enthusiasm.
Yesterday I made a potential disparaging remark about spinnakers. Just to reaffirm that they monitor this post each and every day, Sir Spinnaker once again vented his fury by dropping a shackle (this connects the Spinnaker to the back of the boat) - of course during pitch black night shift . He huffed and puffed and swirled himself around with gusto and fury before calming down and allowing us to apologise and fix his loose rope. Sorry Sir Spinnaker - no more side swipes at your might and glory!
You have heard me discuss the delights of our sleeping accommodation. It's worth a little elaboration.
Rocket / Stop Rhino Poaching is a delightful long, slim yacht - which means that there can be (and is) significant rocking and rolling movement from side to side (sounds like a scene from a Rio nightclub).
All the sleeping accommodation is designed with double beds facing in the direction of the boat. This makes great sense from a design viewpoint but is a disaster from a sleep viewpoint. Inevitably the boat is leaning predominantly one way or the other for hours on end. So the person on the low side of the lean potentially gets a good rest wedged up against a side wall. The other person spends the night trying not to roll over and spoon his bed buddy. Of course the occasional side to side roll (on top of the lean) adds a further complication to the sleep manipulation. Rex has managed to find a couch which goes at right angles to the direction of the boat. This does require a wedge position between backrest and dinner table - this can be a great antiroll assistant.
Thanks again for all the feedback and comments - it's appreciated by all on board.
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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