To our family and friends
Yaaaaaay! RR (Running Repairs) had a quiet night/day! Of course Rex has spent considerable time with the water maker - but we suspect that may just be a Rex thing :).
We experienced good winds (15-25 knots, 30-45 kph) and only mild swells last night with occasional squalls coming through - so great progress was made. Today has been equally good with great sunshine, good winds and only a mild swell. I'm going to stop there in case I incant some sailing voodoo by talking too many good things. (Gareth has given us advice on strict sailing lore instructions such as not to shave until we reach Rio. We are nervous that Bushy will truly live up to his name by then. We broke the sailing lore of bringing bananas so we have eaten them quickly - maybe this caused the boom to break?)
Interestingly I suspect all newbies brought pajamas (short/T shirt). This created a smile with the real sailors - and now we know why. Within 4 hours of leaving Cape Town we were all in our "oilies" (waterproof gear for you land lubbers). None of the newbies took this gear off for the first two nights! The boat was throwing around so much it was impossible to change clothing. Let this not imply we knew where our clothing was - we had NO idea where anything was - apart from various sails. There were certainly no beds - only sail bags to sleep on. Gerrie defined 2 hour watches (shifts in land English :))on the first evening. When sleep was permitted, any and every surface which allowed you to wedge in was an absolute luxury which we embraced fully.
Last night (night 4) was our first night of any real adherence to watches/shifts as good friend RR allowed us this respite. However this does not imply much at all. You must still be available on deck for any emergency so "oily" sleeping kit is quite the norm. Fireman Pieter has shown us how to attach boots to clothing for quick access - we don't have his skills.
From a sailing viewpoint we are not able to use our spinnaker as yet (partially because of wind direction and partially because of the broken bracket). So Code Zero is our sail of choice (sounds a bit like a Hawai Five Oh thriller?) and is pulling us along just fine.
All of us were truly saddened to hear of the tragic fatality on Bille. Our prayers and condolences go to the family of the deceased and to the crew of Bille. Our thoughts are with you at this time.
Love to all the family and friends
Regards from Mike on behalf of Team Rocket/Stop Rhino Poaching
Yaaaaaay! RR (Running Repairs) had a quiet night/day! Of course Rex has spent considerable time with the water maker - but we suspect that may just be a Rex thing :).
We experienced good winds (15-25 knots, 30-45 kph) and only mild swells last night with occasional squalls coming through - so great progress was made. Today has been equally good with great sunshine, good winds and only a mild swell. I'm going to stop there in case I incant some sailing voodoo by talking too many good things. (Gareth has given us advice on strict sailing lore instructions such as not to shave until we reach Rio. We are nervous that Bushy will truly live up to his name by then. We broke the sailing lore of bringing bananas so we have eaten them quickly - maybe this caused the boom to break?)
Interestingly I suspect all newbies brought pajamas (short/T shirt). This created a smile with the real sailors - and now we know why. Within 4 hours of leaving Cape Town we were all in our "oilies" (waterproof gear for you land lubbers). None of the newbies took this gear off for the first two nights! The boat was throwing around so much it was impossible to change clothing. Let this not imply we knew where our clothing was - we had NO idea where anything was - apart from various sails. There were certainly no beds - only sail bags to sleep on. Gerrie defined 2 hour watches (shifts in land English :))on the first evening. When sleep was permitted, any and every surface which allowed you to wedge in was an absolute luxury which we embraced fully.
Last night (night 4) was our first night of any real adherence to watches/shifts as good friend RR allowed us this respite. However this does not imply much at all. You must still be available on deck for any emergency so "oily" sleeping kit is quite the norm. Fireman Pieter has shown us how to attach boots to clothing for quick access - we don't have his skills.
From a sailing viewpoint we are not able to use our spinnaker as yet (partially because of wind direction and partially because of the broken bracket). So Code Zero is our sail of choice (sounds a bit like a Hawai Five Oh thriller?) and is pulling us along just fine.
All of us were truly saddened to hear of the tragic fatality on Bille. Our prayers and condolences go to the family of the deceased and to the crew of Bille. Our thoughts are with you at this time.
Love to all the family and friends
Regards from Mike on behalf of Team Rocket/Stop Rhino Poaching
No comments:
Post a Comment