Windy
Wind, which one can't actually see and is therefore probably not real, is fundamentally different from other real stuff., like the sea, say, which is a three dimensional thing – i.e. it moves up, down and sideways and, in my experience based on the passage so far, often all three at once. Wind on the other hand has two dimensions – speed and direction – and is cunningly designed so that one or the other is always wrong. It is for this reason that for the last day or so we have been motoring – for much of that time the wind has effectively had no dimensions at all – neither speed (or at least not enough) nor direction. Right now the speed is enough to turn off the motor, but while the direction according to the prophet Grib is supposed to be from the north-east, it's actually from the east-south-east – i.e. wrong (see above). Nevertheless just before midnight last night Murphy joined the 999 Club, with less than 1,000 miles to go to our destination. Now there's something that needs celebrating, along with the lovely sunny weather we are now enjoying.
Fearless
Windy is one adjective that one could definitely not apply to the crew of Murphy. Yesterday evening, while the wind was dimensionless,we stowed all the sails, turned off the motor and the crew lined up on the bathing platform to take its mid-Atlantic dip. The captain was sadly obliged to stay on board for safety reasons and in order to take the commemorative photographs. I am pleased to report that nobody was eaten or even nibbled - I counted them out and I counted them back - and all reported that the water was a balmy 29 degrees. Heroes all.
Jake's Favourites
A very different tone was expected at yesterday's happy hour as one of the younger members of the crew presented his eight Desert Island Discs. Surprisingly we had heard of many of the beat combos selected and there was a surprisingly retro element, going back in some cases even to the captain's youth. It proved a stiff test for the assembled ipads/pods, however, and we had to play a number of approximations to the actual tracks on the list – a bit like when they make an award at the Stoke Poges film festival and announce that Brad Pitt can't be here to accept the award personally and that it will instead be accepted on his behalf by the owner of the local record shop. Anyway here goes with a fine list:
Greenday – East Jesus Nowhere
Nick Kershaw – Together in Electric Dreams
Nirvana – Lithium
Iron Maiden – Number of the Beast
The Beach Boys – Little Deuce Coupe
REM – The End of the World
Pedigree Scum – Earth Angel
John Williams – The Star Wars theme
News from the front
The flying fish have escalated the campaign. Last night while on the helm Andrew took a direct hit from the biggest and bluest one yet. Luckily Lucinda (the local SODOFF representative) was quick to come to the rescue – not of her father, you understand, but of the fish, which she deftly flipped over the side.
Food
Last night's dinner was another classic – tuna steaks, with tomatoes, garlic, onions, cabbage and potatoes (lasting well in the Lakeland potato bag). I should point out, however, that this was not tuna freshly pulled from the sea, but tuna sold to us by Il Corte Ingles in Las Palmas – fresh from the freezer. I may have to have a word with the fisheries officer.
Andrew, Lucinda, Jake and Jeff
Noon, Saturday 8th December, 2012