This
is my first ever blog post which is quite exciting. I just thought I’d prewarn
you ahead of what is inevitably a
host of punctuation and grammatical errors. The last 24h have been my favorite
so far on board. Some tricky, light winds for most of yesterday, combined with
the rolling effect from the waves caused the boom to slam occasionally and
headsail to collapse as we continue downwind, on route to St. Lucia. However, it
did mean we were able to hoist our full main sail for the first time on the
crossing and gave us plenty to do on deck. By the afternoon the wind was fairly
steady and has continued to be so throughout the night. The sun has been out
almost constantly, with a scattering of clouds, which led to a nice sunset and
an even more impressive moonrise.
Christmas has begun on the boat. Yesterday morning the
kids began creating little green and red elves with long felt hats. They also
made little Christmas trees to hang from the boat. This morning I emerged from
my cabin in my usual bleary eyed state to Christmas music, which certainly
brightened the effects of a 0000 - 0400 night watch. No doubt our usual
afternoon memory games and snap will continue to keep me on toes.
Life
on board has become remarkable comfortable, with good food and high spirits from
all. Unfortunately the sea is still taking its toll on Elise, who is looking
better, but struggling with the rolling. Our bananas are also becoming
progressively more seasick and in an attempt to avoid wasting all of them,
Øyvind and I made our 3rd, 4th and 5th banana
cake of the voyage yesterday. They have baked surprisingly well considering
we’re at sea. We have also begun fishing, but 20h later, still no fish. We’ll
keep you posted.
I’ve
left the best for last though. The highlight of yesterday was a pod of dolphins
(we aren’t sure if this is the right collective noun, but I mean who actually
knows when to use school, shoal or pod anyway). There were about twelve dancing
and diving around our bow wave. I’m not sure whether the kids or I were more
excited, but either way it was a very special moment on board. I felt very
fortunate to be joined by another two pods during my night watch. It was perhaps
even more incredible when you are alone on deck under the moonlight and the
splash you 30 seconds ago attributed to a bow wave, turns out to be dolphins
jumping out of from the black to join you beneath the stars.
Unreal.
So
that’s all from me for now. I hope everything is well at home, both in Norway
and England. We are missing you all lots. I’m especially missing my family and
close friends, but it’s not too long until Christmas now.
See
you soon,
Will
(and all aboard Friskus)