Hummingbird - Late night conversations

Legend has it that several children alive in the world today have been conceived on board the Clipper 60s during the Clipper Round the World Race. Really! Well, probably not but this is exactly the kind of logistical challenge which occupies the mind during the early hours. With twelve people on board there are only two possible private locations: Narnia, and the Rope Locker. For the uninitiated amongst ye, Narnia is not the winter wonderland on the other side of the wardrobe. It is the home of Genny, the generator, rack upon rack of oil, and a pretty efficient watermaker, upon which our mid-Atlantic showers (and thus, sanity) are dependent. At this point, I shall take the liberty of christening it Watson.
So, part of the watch system is to crawl in and check the generator and bilges in there each afternoon, and once you’ve spent a sweaty 10 minutes performing this task you might think the rope locker to be the better site for “activities”. Certainly, if you are into being suspended from the hatch with an assortment of salty ropes, this could work very well for you, but it is currently stacked full of fenders, leaving little room for anything else. It was during this conversation that Michelle exclaimed her child was conceived in Narnia. I think this could be attributed to my hearing impairment, but it has fuelled the mystery so with many more night watches to go we might be able to conclude the quest to identify the hypothetical site of the “activities”.
Now, on the sailing front – we have been in light airs mode for a good day now, but have so far managed to keep the spinnaker filled. The pace allowed some time in the afternoon for teaching on storm sails. I think if some of us had known what this was going to involve, we might have opted for the theory-only option. However, it was good fun rigging up the tri-sail and the storm jib (whilst keeping the spinnaker flying too). These are the most petite sails ever seen onboard Hummingbird and boy, do they flake very evenly and accurately, much like 6 year-olds distributing sweets. As Holly promised, it was worth the effort getting the sails up for a photo-op. Tony, Chris and John masquerading as Charlie’s Angels against the bright orange tri-sail will no doubt form the centrefold of the December issue of Voguenot.
Something about all that activity must have changed the fengshui of our surrounds, because not long after, we started to see a surge in windspeed and our kite has been filling very, very nicely. And speaking of kites – Nicky saw a splash about 200m away and everyone on deck switched their eyes to hunter mode. And three predatorial breaths later, a large black diamond emerged from the water. You could almost feel the cogs in your head go kite > garbage bag > STINGRAY! The poor fella was probably being pursued or something, but we’d like to think it had done a great star jump to say hello. Holly does fabulous re-enactments on demand. 120 points to you for each performance, Holly.
All this activity above deck was being matched by the Michelin-star team below. Cui and Jen sweated over a hot stove to prepare a meal fit for an Emperor. Cui has brought all sorts of delicious ingredients with him from China, and 24 chopsticks. Fraser undertook the important task of sorting the baba-three-bags-full of coriander and did this with such mindfulness, all the lines on his head were no more, and he appeared rather zen. The spiced pork stew, veg and rice was plated up complete with chopsticks for the authentic experience. Gosh, the people doing dinner tomorrow have big shoes to fill!
John and Rachael have taken the trouble to untangle with fishing line, so everyone is hoping for some fish. Unfortunately, for me, this came in the form of a flying fish in the dark, which resulted in the emission of some bat-frequency shrieks couple with unintentional 80s disco dancing. If you’ve never been hit by a flying fish, it is highly recommended you keep it that way, for they make a right mess, leaving a trail of shimmering blue scales as they slide from point of impact, down your body towards the ground. By the time you regain your composure, hopefully a kind crew mate will have picked up the poor suffocating creature and tossed it back into the ocean so it can have another go at you. For the punters, the odds of being hit by a flying fish are much higher than winning on a £2 lotto scratchy.
The flying sting ray sends its love. Good night and good luck on the lotto scratchy.