Tuesday 3 November 2009
Hi Folks,
To be honest, I am not sure which is worst, the hammering violence of a Force 10 storm or the stultifying tedium of flat seas and a mere zephyr of wind which teases you into thinking you might be able to sail, but cannot. Either way, they test the resilience and tenacity of the crew and I guess are the opposite extremes of adventurous training, each calling upon inner reserves of character than we maybe did not realise we possessed. A bit deep? Yep, but that is what you get from a demented blog-writer at 0200 in the morning when the engine has been clattering away for the past 17 hours and we are on the second sitting of the Skipper’s jokes with a grumpy 2nd Mate (it’s his age) as dessert.
Fremantle is now some 950 miles ahead of us and we are slowly clawing our way round the top left hand corner of a high pressure zone that has stubbornly blocked our path for the past 3 days. The wind should (I emphasise the word ‘should’ because the wind appears to be unaware of the brief and is not behaving very well) set as an easterly and increase up to 20 knots, but so far it has shown little or no inclination to do so. In parallel with the weather we download from a US website, we are now also receiving fax, satcom and voice forecasts from the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology, National Meteorological and Oceanographic Centre – a long and illustrious title meaning the Met Office. Happily, or unhappily, they seem to agree with each other that the next couple of hundred miles are going to be hard work.
The high points of today include the Skipper fixing the freshwater pressure accumulator, and the item subsequently knowing its place and staying fixed, for the time being at least. Worryingly, during the process the 1st Mate dropped a knife into the bilges and we are now concerned that Crevice is armed as well as being cunningly devious so we had better not relax our guard over the last few days of the trip.
Blue have been Mother and have embarked upon a novel approach to culinary art which combines the strengths of various forms of national cuisine into something you can get out of the variety of tins found beneath Disco’s seats and flooring. Tonight we were treated to Indo-Italiano curried sausages with spaghetti, served with a fine and carefully matured fruit juice, followed by apple choco-crumble, the unique texture and flavour of which were derived by Adam bunging copious amounts of cocoa powder into Hayley’s crumble mix.
Unsurprisingly, the wildlife are now giving us a very wide berth and apart from one albatross, a distant whale and one sooty pigeon, nothing has been near us all day. The sooty pigeon even had the temerity to land alongside Disco, take off again at twice our speed, and give us one of those looks normally reserved for burning off a Skoda at traffic lights. It was quite hurtful to observe!
Later on Tuesday 3 November 2009
The day started as I indicated earlier with light airs defying our every attempt to sail but by early afternoon (after a number of very professional sail changes) we were able to kill the engine and have sailed serenely since. The wind has steadied as an easterly of around 15 knots and under a full main, No 1 Yankee and Staysail Disco is making around 7 knots over the ground roughly in the direction of Fremantle.
During the idle and somewhat listless hours of the morning it occurred to us that Fireworks Night is just 2 days away so we approached the Skipper for permission to build a small bonfire on the foredeck and fire off all the emergency flares as surrogate fireworks on Thursday evening. Surprisingly for such a laid-back chap he declined our, we think, most reasonable request citing the burden of paperwork should such an event occur. The ‘Penny for the Guy’ campaign has yet to get underway because the Skipper sleeps with one eye open.........I will leave you to fill in the blanks.
Apart from the normal squadron of sooty pigeons waiting for Owen to drop his guard we were visited by a seal today. I use the term visited loosely because it glided down our port side not 20 feet from Disco’s hull displaying nothing more than its bottom and hind flippers – Southern Ocean seal mooning, a first perhaps?
Food is now occupying a disproportionate amount of our thinking time. To my horror we found the bottom of the coffee tin 2 days ago but the Skipper, being endlessly generous, gave me a box of coffee bags for my Birthday. We appear to have cornered the market in tea bags though, so much so that we have enough to quilt our own life raft should the need arise – a double bonus would be that it would act as a sea dye marker should it ever get wet. Quizzing the 1st Mate over what provision had been made should we actually run out of food and he informed me that we have quantities of compo rations on board in addition to the emergency rations reserved for real emergencies like abandoning ship. When I expressed a modest degree of delight because I love the compo puddings he informed me that the puddings were considered surplus to requirement and left behind. Left behind in a bunch of sea cadets it turns out! I bitterly regret having to confess to a full-on Victor Meldrew moment........or 2.
Dinner this evening was fresh Scottish salmon fishcakes with minted new potatoes and petit pois – well, the substitute form, meatballs in dubious gravy with suspicious-looking noodles followed by an ‘amuse bouche’ sweet which just managed to take away the taste of the meatballs.
As I sign off for the night Disco is pounding away through the waves and Australia is just 850 miles ahead of the pointy end. White are on watch in the cockpit, Red are doing the washing up, and Blue are in repose awaiting their turn at the helm at midnight. The Skipper? In his bunk with one eye wide open.
G’night.
Wednesday 4 November 2009
Hi Folks,
My early morning slumber deep within the warmth of my Febreeze-freshened sleeping bag was penetrated by the mouth-watering and sense-teasing waft of bacon frying in the galley. Real bacon and really frying – no substitutes here – and we were treated to a breakfast of freshly baked bacon butties, fit for Kings. Buzz, Sally and Mike had done it again and we all happily agreed that their destiny beyond Transglobe was to open a roadside snack bar serving bacon butties and cups of tea. Clearly, their caravan would have to be bricked up to a 30-degree angle and would need to be visited by a wandering band of hooligans every few minutes to give it a good shake in order to replicate the conditions under which they work to their best. A tip-top breakfast plus a night of substantial progress towards Australia has placed Disco’s crew in fine spirits despite the rain and rather bumpy ride this morning.
During the night, an Owen bird (named due to its likeness to Owen – that is to say, pale and apparently undernourished [or scrawny]) landed in the cockpit at the feet of the helmsman and scuttled away beneath the helmsman’s seat. Gemma’s initial reaction was to wonder aloud how much meat there might be on the bird, which remains under the seat and is now known as Speckled Jim. Hayley has taken it upon herself to represent the RSPB and looks crossly at anyone licking their lips and wandering nonchalantly towards the back of the cockpit with a sharp knife and a cooking pot.
Thursday 5 November 2009
It is now 0300 on Thursday morning and Speckled Jim, seizing the opportunity of the hungriest-looking crew being abed, has departed Disco’s cockpit. He took the care to inspect the Watch before leaving then did so without so much as a by-your-leave or excuse me. The Skipper, deprived of a potential Melchett-moment, is nonetheless pleased not to be responsible for yet another recalcitrant flyer on board.
Looking back, Wednesday carried us closer to Australia – now 700 miles ahead – but we were reaching more towards North than East in order to keep with the wind, and the day was gloomy and dank with persistent low cloud and drizzle. A centre of low pressure hung to the North of us blocking our direct path to Fremantle. In the late evening, as the low moved South, the wind dropped and we have been motoring for a few hours and burning precious diesel. If the wind follows the brief, it will fill in behind us tomorrow and should give us a good run for a couple of days. The Skipper is itching to get the spinnaker out but it remains to be seen if that is ever going to be a practical proposition.
Earlier I mentioned arriving in Fremantle over the weekend – I now think we will be later but I am not certain by how much. Please take it from me that your loved ones are safe and happy but looking forward to dry land/cold beer/shower/hair wash/shave/clean clothes/huge helpings of food/many other unmentionable things, and they will contact you just as soon as they are able. I too will keep tapping out my version of our story until we are alongside at least, so keep your finger hovering over the Escape Key.
Stay safe, lots of love from us all.
Shout Outs
Sally – Hi to everyone and love to all. Not many days to go now, we hope to be in on the 8th the 9th at the latest. A couple of days RnR and then clean the boat and home. Si and Neil hope you enjoy the concert – hope you got all your jobs done and the wallpapering hasn’t been too arduous!! It won’t be long now until I’m home and in need of some serious sleep and rest my aching bones. Si love and miss you loads xxxxx
Neil – Becca hope you’re happy with your first placement, I’m looking forward to catching up with your news when we get to Fremantle. I’m missing you all very much, all my love Chris, Mike, Becca, Laura and all the Cottrell/May clan.
