25 31 30 N
56 00 30 w
0752 UTC
05.08.08
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well, well, well.
today had a few bumps but also a few comedic moments. made lunch after again taking slightly too long with an engineering problem. matthew had me play metal fabricator and sculpt some jubilee clips (i.e. hose clamps, but in l'europe) into latches with which to secure the freezer door. as i have needed to ice my hand for nearly a week now i feel as though i have a karmic debt to be paid to the freezer. it remains my contention that refrigeration is one of the hallmarks of civilisation. i'd have to say that in a very strange way, the most comfortable afternoon i spent in Antigua was the day i waited in the 'infertility and imaging clinic' for my x-ray, totally air-conditioned bliss. i was even slightly chilly. noooo! And the results were favourable. though slightly sore, it is as they say in carriacou 'not a problem.'
after my watch was done, the wind shifted and we did another sail change. actually we had just put away the main; and i got an in-the-dark anatomy of our mast lesson. i am convinced that the experiential / lateral learning process is most effective when there is so much information to assimilate. my actual plan was to secure a crossing on a /different/ boat, but hey. as buckley wrote, 'we don't actually commute.' which is less true in my time than it was in his, excepting the 'we' part.
i guessed while hanging out in Antigua while all them yachts did their chartering, available crew for delivery would be in rather short supply at a certain point i.e. when all insurance policies probably stipulate that said vessel must be S of grenada on the hard (in the yard, all chocked up) or in the med or in the US and A (merely anywhere but in the carribean for hurricane season). it's true. when i got back to antigua, i was offered a pile of crossings. but as matt aksed first, i get to be on flying cloud again. woo!
back to the comedy part. on midori's watch, we espied a vessel off to starboard and that was pretty fun. it seems like her watch is exactly nap time for all the rest and i was having a good relax with some WD40 and our can opener. random deep cleaning project. so i was endeavouring to identify the type of vessel, intently staring through binocs and i suppose hanging real motionless like. i felt this odd scratching on my head ~ this stupid sea bird had decided to make a nest out of my hair. or was quite interested anyway in landing on my head. i said some bad words and ducked under the bimini. i think this particular bird had it in for me, because when i poked our skipper's digital camera up to get a nice close-up shot, the bird tried to take my finger off with its beak. left a mark, but also fortunately left my finger. i've often been fond of the ring finger on my left hand. apparently my sea bird nemesis was too. the presence of the bird made midori's horizon sweep ~ which we all tend to perform at least once in any 5 minute period ~ more risky. mostly, the bird let her be.
a vicious animal. really.
while we were enjoying the drama, Flying Cloud crept off course and headed for africa, much to the consternation of matthew. crappy. on the one hand, the course problem, in which we were headed almost 10 degrees S of E, should have been picked up by one or both of us; on the other hand it is not much of a problem given our destination and our distance from it. what /is/ a problem is that we have come upon a high pressure system as a consequence and are now no longer under sail. very likely though, we would have encountered high pressure regardless. another watch under power.
sailing is better than motor sailing is better than motoring.
the sailing yachties call motor vessels 'stinkpots.'
