Hi Folks, the good ship DISCO here and all is well! Today (18 Feb) is a special day for us; it is our 2-week anniversary since we set sail - 14 days at sea and half way to the Horn! For most of us it has gone by in a flash and we have settled really well into life at sea. The Watch system has taken over our lives and we have to struggle to remember what day of the week it is; nevertheless, morale is really high and the banter is rife. We spend a lot of time discussing our ‘most favourite meal’ and how deep the next bath is going to be.... and we only have another 3 weeks to go! It does seem now that each Watch has its own persona; Taff’s Red Watch gets most of the foredeck work and they only need to appear on deck and the weather turns bad (Skipper tries to keep away from Taff’s Watch.. and usually fails); Jo’s White Watch are the ‘Bananarama’s (from all wearing the yellow one piece dry suits), seem to spend too much time laughing and are far too cheeky (says 1st Mate Brian); Mike’s Blue Watch (the chilled-out-sea-dogs) just spend time shooting the breeze and helming one-handed. However, all the Watches have excelled when it comes to ‘Mother’ duties - we are eating like Kings! The fayre has ranged from Chicken Curry to Fajitas to Beef Stew and Dumplings. The bread baking continues although today Blue Watch burnt the first batch, but this could be forgiven if they were sidetracked by White Watch who were gybing the boat whilst taking the pole down! The fact is Jason took a shower whilst the bread was in the oven and didn’t tell anyone! Oh Yes, we put out the pole for the first time last night so we were truly ‘goose winged’ (main sail out to Starboard, foresail poled out to Port to catch the following wind). Other highlights of the week include an increased number of goffers, one of which emptied several gallons of briny sea into the galley – the seats took 3 days to dry out. As we type this the sun is out, although the hailstones from this morning reached biblical proportions (or so the story telling goes), last estimate was golf-ball size and growing. The wildlife continues to elude us apart from the quite astonishing birds that seem to pop up from time to time; has no-one told them we as far from land as you can possibly be on this planet? In fact we have been discussing this issue more and more: none of us have been this far from any land before, and therefore so far from any humanity; indeed, when the International Space Station flies over us, as it has a couple of time (as Mikey B claims), at 250 miles high the astronauts become our nearest neighbours for about 6 mins!
Shout outs:
From Jason: All of the ‘incapabilities’ from work - Yes it was me who burned the bread! SMK has degraded to Susan Boyle; Jade Goodie and Amy Whinehouse. Loves to Joan – tell Jarvis he only has 25 more nights sleeping on my side of the bed!
Mikey B: Love to DNC. Still keeping up with these young thrusters; although I have burnt my finger and sprained a wrist (School boy!!) When you next speak to Mum, remind her where I am. Love and miss you. Xxx
From Gonzo: Love to Laura Norder and the felines, the time is flying by now, were just over half way to Cape Horn now and the miles are decreasing all the time. Much love to Father Ray, ‘Lainey, Markus Parkus and Smelganie et al. XXX
From Nick: Desperately in need of a pint of gin & tonic followed by another pint of gin & tonic. Loving it and missing y’all. Xxx
From Brian: My darling Pauline, love you lots and missing all our home comforts. Morale is high, much to do, going too fast to fish. Oli, I think you’d like the sailing but the time at sea probably too much for you. Sun is shining now and it feels great. Emma, Chris and Mike, hope all with well with you and yours. Mum, I’m still here grinning from ear-to-ear. Much love and hugs to you all. xxxx
From Jo R: Hello! It is soooo sunny now, had a super time on the foredeck last few watches, pole up, down, sails up down!! Hope all well at home, pat to meg!! Making lamb curry for supper tonight! xxx
From Jo A: Dad, I am truly an awful daughter... ‘Happy belated Birthday from 48.58S 135.31W’! Van the Man is proving an excellent sound track to the southern ocean! Mum, you would love the albatrosses; they really are a beautiful sight. Pete, my hat is ace, thanks! Just about surviving 3 hours sleep at a time, you’d be proud! x
From Gareth (chinky): hello Katie bay! Missing you so much now! At least in Afghan we could speak! Baby I think I am turning in to your dad, defiantly want to buy more outdoor clothing! Anyway hope you are doing your work especially your dissertation! Had a real low couple of days but feeling better today! Can’t wait to get home to you! Tell my mum and Emma I miss them! Take care my sexy bum!!xxxxxxx
From Warren (wozza) Hi everybody this is a place of extremes. One minute it’s blowing a gale and peeing it down, next it’s fine and sunny. All is well on board. Crazy morning today after the cold front went through. Gusty conditions and the reefs kept going in and out on our watch, oh for roller reefing!! My watch had the job of taking the pole down and dropping the storm staysail after a night trying to get South with the wind behind. It’s a fine line between heading South and hitting a deep depression (crazy weather!!!) or moving further East towards the High pressure system. Some of the foredeck work is truly exhausting, especially when the water is all around you. Still good fun and certainly a testing place. Sleeping is in 3 hour bursts if your lucky. Anyhow hope life is good at home. Guess my roster for the end of March is out, will have forgotten how to fly by then. Hi to Devon folk, esp Dan, Steve and Max. Hi to Jody in Torquay, keep up the networking. To my sis, yep it smells in here for sure! Hope your exam went well and the small polish family that are living in my room are paying enough rent. Hi to Matt as well, mate this is truly a big boat course and great experience. Thats it ttfn, I will catch the rest on the next blog. Wx
From Taff: Hello all missing you very much we, are half way to Cape Horn strong winds and hail stones this morning; nice and sunny now but the weather changes every 5 minutes without notice. Hope all ok your end? Looking forward to Ibiza and the all inclusive! Love to everybody xxxxx.
