We had an entertaining night last night that's for sure.
Firstly, Hotstuff went extra terrestrial... The squirrel watch report that
at 2am (time zone +2h) the night sky was illuminated by what they believed to be
a comet! Can it be true...? Or was it a bird? A plane? ET? A UFO? The illusive
Trade Winds? (Yes we are still beating upwind 1600 miles in.)
Later in the watches a flying fish tried to knock Jo out and was almost
successful. A heroic and brave manoeuvre followed as she leapt onto the coach
house roof and squealed almost as loudly as the high pitched unidentified creak
we keep hearing on board. Sarah however came to the rescue armed with protective
sailing gloves ... or was it marigolds? It's hard to believe that 4 days ago she
took a safety knife to the gills of a Dorado.
A perfect end to the night came for Sue a few hours later. The air in the
port aft sauna was clearly getting a little dry. Poseidon - who seems to have
taken a fancy to Sue on this trip - decided he would ladle a few buckets of
Atlantic salty nectar through the hatch onto her bed and moisten things up
again. Note to self - never leave hatch window open on starboard tack - much
better to fester next to cabin mate.
Today brightened up, the sun dutifully came out and school a la Hotstuff
opened at 3pm for an educational afternoon. The students were almost all
punctual however a few fag breaks, pulling of hair and moving seats for
sunbathing implied that perhaps discipline levels on-board are too slack - lines
will be forthcoming.
At school today the 8 students taught by very 'firm but fair' Miss Skip
learnt the theory behind all the sweating, grinding, winching, easing and
releasing that they have been dutifully performing over the last two weeks. Miss
Skip was very impressed with the progress her crew is making. She expects the
audience at home to notice a dramatic rise in speed as her students put their
new found trimming techniques into action.
The next lesson will be knotty one.
A final note to you all. We thought we would let you in to the latest
marine invention that we have devised - a boat vending machine.
Our dilemma was:
- how to keep snacks dry, safe yet close to hand on deck at night in F8
gales, 5 metre waves, flying fish and 9 hungry women?
Our solution:
- A spare small flare box we happen to have on-board. It is bright orange
and red in colour so very easy to see. It is perfectly watertight to withstand
wave showers. It fits perfectly in our drink holder made of designer bungee on
deck. Brilliant.
We can't wait to see the response once we arrive in St. Lucia - thinking it
might catch on... perhaps Helly Hansen might want to patent it? Launching in the
new year.
With love and fairy dust from the Girls4Sail crew on
Hotstuff.