Dear Family and Friends
I need to start off by abusing my scribe privileges and wishing my son, Ryan happy 21st birthday today! Congratulations and best wishes - I shall join you in celebrations shortly.
All is well aboard Rocket/Stop Rhino Poaching - although we do seem to be approaching a shortage of spinnakers. These are fiendish and devilish sailing devices which make a huge show of themselves and then develop conniving ways of self destruction. You guessed it - we lost our third spinnaker early this morning causing an "all hands" around 4am under fairly benign conditions. We are now down to one remaining spinnaker with RR working hectically to make some sort of repair on the fractional spinnaker which was the first to tear.
Rex came close to having to walk the plank this morning - he was carrying around a truly rotten smell of fish! It turned out that during his watch last night, he was nodding off quietly at his station (fortunately not steering at the helm) when he felt a soft knock on his neck. He assumed it was the cap of his Oily and did nothing. The slapping on his neck persisted however so he eventually investigated further - only to find a flying fish has embedded itself under his Oily cap. By the time this was resolved. The fish was no longer wriggling around and it had descaled itself - leaving Rex aroma rich.
This morning Rex washed his Oily top - thank goodness. However I suspect that this would be good for all of us. Oilies are of course supposed to keep the cold and wet out - but they also keep more sweat in than is desirous. So slipping into our Oilies each evening becomes become quite literal. The inside and outside are similarly slippery - and don't make for hugely comfortable pyjamas.
Our watches are now set at 4 hours given the less turbulent weather conditions - with helmsman alternating every hour. However with only 3 cabins (one of which is given over to a spinnaker graveyard), all sleeping is done on a hot bunk principal. Note also there are nine males on board with lots and lots of big boots. So space is at a premium and items "put down" are often not retrieved again for days.
Early this morning (before dawn) we saw our first ship on the horizon - too early to celebrate the existence of other humans in the Atlantic. However it is amazing when the ONLY change on the horizon is a cloud or the rising or setting of the sun and moon. The feeling of empty space (and no traffic) is all embracing.
I had intended to talk about the daily schedule on board Rocket/Stop Rhino Poaching - that will be another day.
Lots of love and best wishes to all our family and friends
Regards
Mike on behalf Team Rocket/Stop Rhino Poaching
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