Charm - Losing Joe

Hello Folks,

Today is Marin's 7th birthday - Happy Birthday Marin. She gets to spend it off Africa in a following wind and sea. How many seven year olds get to do that? Well, quite a few on this trip.

Marin and crew lost skipper Joe yesterday after the start. They didn't see him fall off the boat but he didn't answer to multiple calls of his name so after looking everywhere a man over board was started. Kent and Lara yelled "Man overboard" and started to roll up the jib and start the engines. Lara pushed the mob button on the plotter. Kent was freaked out and wondering how he was going to find Joe when he didn't see him at all or know when he fell off the boat.

About that time Joe popped up like a ghost from the forward storage hatch. He had jumped in one to get a block to fix a broken traveler and no one saw him go in the compartmented out. He had locked the hatch from the inside to keep the bow waves from surfing out. When Kent had checked it he thought Joe couldn't have locked it from the inside so he must not be in there.

Joe returned to a lot of concerned and somewhat angry faces with many apologies. He was very sorry to have caused so much angst among the crew. Now we are sailing along in Champagne conditions with a spinnaker up and getting ready for a "Marin's choice" lunch. Things have been smooth for the most part so far, knock on wood.