Adagio - From Adagio (U.S.A) #5A: 11/27/2018

#5A: On Playing "BINGO"

While it's still early in the crossing, there's no time like the present to address that ever present question of "won't you get bored on a boat for 18 days?"

Well .. the truth is .. that I kind of hope so :) .. After all the intensity of preparations I am certainly looking forward to a day, or twelve days, of sending time ~not~ worrying about getting ready to go and just relaxing into the fruits of all the labors. But, we do like having things to do along the way. Aside from the obvious items such as staring at a phone without a data connection, or looking away from a small stack of laundry that you know needs addressing .. there are a few activities we've chosen, individually and as a crew, to occupy some of the time.

I like Astronomy, so I will sit in the cockpit with a green laser pointer and do some show and tell action to the the crew that is not familiar with the night sky. Just a little bit at a time and leaving a taste for more. Of course there is the blogging and diary-keeping and fuel-burn and miles-per-day and other adminis-trivia to conduct and there is the centralized activity about dinner time (and dishes time).

But one of our fun endeavors is the on-board "BINGO" game we play. Now, I can't take credit for its invention, that actually came from a wonderful lady named Amanda who was crew for us on another rally, but I can claim to be the creator of the custom cards and the purveyor of 'situationally appropriate" content. The idea is simple enough: Lay out a sheet of paper or card stock and draw a 5 by 5 grid on it. Label it with each crew member's name and in one random square write the word "FREE". Each card must be the same in content, but different in layout.

In each square, enter a "thing" that you might see, hear, taste, or otherwise experience on your crossing or sailing trip. When the crew member gets one of those items to check off, a sticker goes in the square until someone gets a BINGO (five in a row, an "X" or a blackout) and gets a prize worthy of the accomplishment.
On this trip we have 24 items to spot along the way (25th being that "FREE" space, of course) and they include: A Military or Coast Guard Vessel", "Dolphins", "A Meteorite", "A Rainbow", "Another 'Amel' Boat", "The Green Flash", "Phosphorescence in the wake", A Lighthouse", "Someone Singing on the VHF" and several more. You get the idea and it's a great bit of game to get everyone on deck at sunset, or looking for flying fish, or whatever might happen along the way.

But, back to the original question ... No, we're not likely to get bored :)