Monday 7 December 2015

Alpaire Day 14

Now two weeks at sea and only 393 miles to go according to the ARC control noon stats. We did 177 miles in the 24 hours noon to noon. Furia 188, Taistealai 174, Bam 163, Crackerjack 185. We are taking the shifts and downwind tacking along the rhumb line. The computer routing using the downloaded grib files suggest staying a little to the North on starboard gybe using the current wind which is North of East. The wind is expected to shift East with a bit of South East, so staying on starboard gybe should give a faster leg into the finish. That is if the wind shifts. In any event the forecast is that we will hold the breeze to the finish. We are taking a book on when that might be. The best estimate is midnight on Tuesday 8th December, or the early hours of the 9th - 2015 of course.

Jan writes: "I can see that have and have-not are on opposite poles to each other as it were, conceptually. I draw a line and I put an arrow head at each end. But I fail to grasp what it is that specific members of the crew have or have not been stroking. Please clarify." Well yet again Yan and Ying. The clue was the cotton wool for Santa Clause. The reason that you are not stroking yours in a Confucious like fashion is that it has clearly been some time! Confucious he say: he who strokes his, can think like me!

Ronan writes: "In 1601 Captain James Lancaster an English sailor performed an experiment on the prevention of scurvy. On one of four ships bound for india he prescribed three teaspoons of lemon juice a day for the crew.By the halfway point 110 men out of 278 had died on the other three ships. Everyone had survived on the lemon supplied ship. It took another 194 years for the Royal Navy to enact new dietary guidelines, and it wasn't until 1865 that the merchant fleet created similar guidelines. Not an example of black box thinking!" Actually Lancaster had been commissioned by the East India Company and it is thought that he knew about the benefits of lemon juice because he had grown up in Portugal. The benefits of lemons became known in the merchant fleets and in fact the Dutch East India Company even maintained citrus plantations at key stops such as Mauritius and the Cape of Good Hope. Then the good times for the East India Companies faded. The accountant's introduced Auster  ity (and possibly water charges!). By the time that naval ships began to travel on long voyages the knowledge was forgotten.

Peter Pan was up to his old tricks last night. I came off watch at mid-night. However at circa 03:45 (UTC/GMT) the said Peter was dancing in his normal graceful fashion on the foredeck hatch over my head. Anxious to finally get a glimpse of Tinkerbelle I peered out and realised that she had escaped, and that he was chasing the clue of one of our jibs. It had frayed through where it was led through the spinnaker pole end. The recovery was not so easy because when both jibs are rolled together the clew is too high to reach when standing at the bow. For some reason Peter's aviator's skills had deserted him at that moment. Perhaps it was a confidence issue. He preferred to use the boat hook and keep his feet on deck. You gotta believe if you wanna fly! We were back on track and in the race again by 04:30.

I went back to my bunk and was on watch again at 06:00 UTC/GMT. As we are now at 55 degrees West local time was approx 02:00. My watch was uneventful except for a few shooting stars, our friends the planets and the Moon. Jupiter had risen early in the East. The Moon, as reported yesterday, rose on its ear, followed some time later by Venus. All three were in a perfect vertical line equally spaced apart. Mars rose a little before the Moon but in the North East. The four of them were like a giant triangular sail of a ship in the sky following us, Mars being the clew.

Des identified a black-browed albatross that came to look at our fishing lines this morning. Even it was not tempted. We read from the Collins bird book that it is the only albatross likely to be seen in the N Atlantic. It is a bit like a gannet but described in the book as clearly heavier and more long winged than a g.

It is with deep regret that I must announce, on behalf of the skipper, that Sam has tendered his resignation as Minister for Fisheries. Sam refused to comment on speculation that he is following his heart's desire. He is to become Patron of the Royal Society for the Protection of Maritime Fishes in Tropical Waters of the North Atlantic between Latitudes 12N to 30N for the Lunar Months of November and December. In future he is to be referred to as his Honour the Patron of the RSftPoMFiTWotNAbL12Nt30nftLMoNaD for short. As this is a newly established organisation, a bit down on its heels, he is to borrow the Crown Emblem from the Royal Irish Yacht Club Ensign.

It is understood that Sam's position became more difficult each day as Marlene F recounted all the fish that they had caught. Some of the other boats on the SSB net think that she is a factory ship!


All the best from the good ship Alpaire.

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