Pacific Odyssey - Leg 7

Skipper mentioned yesterday that an arctic front may be brushing by us
and we´re pretty sure it did; today the air was chilly.  Most of the day was
dry but this morning, on Antony´s 0400-0800hrs watch, he had only 15 minutes
of dry weather.  The rest of the time it rained and for 2 of the hours it
rained hard and steady.  Antony has good raingear, from Arcteryx, and after
his watch his clothes underneath were still dry.  But, while he was on watch
he could feel the pockets of his jacket filling up with water and he emptied
them regularly!  His trainees were completely wet, not all of them come with
as good raingear as his.  During the night (from between about 2200hrs -
0600 hrs) there is only the watch officer and two watch members on deck
around the wheel.  The trainees take turns at the wheel, each steering for
40 minutes, but both remaining on deck till they have both steered, i.e.
1hr. 20 min.  They then wake up the next pair of trainees who repeat the
rotation.  The watch officer, however, remains on deck for the entire 4
hours; it is a gift at times to have animated and talkative trainees to help
keep the time moving.  Jose´s fore watch came on at 0800 hrs and the rain
had stopped, and it stayed that way.  Several times the sun tried to peek
through, and it made a difference when one sat on deck, but for the most
part we were bundled in fleece, long underwear, jackets and rain gear.  Yes,
the tropics are just a wonderful memory.  We´ve heard though that Victoria
finally had a day of hot weather, 24 degrees Celsius; wonderful, we´re on
our way.  Below decks the temperature is now cool, except in the galley,
where many more of us hover, making tea, coffee, and hot chocolate, or just
trying to warm up.  Katie and Gillian are having a few more offers of help
as the galley is a really nice place to be right now.  Skipper and Jacob
exchanged an old bit of interior stove pipe for new pipe in the after cabin
stove, allowing us to turn it on for the first time since Osaka, Japan.  The
stove is small, but the heat it emits is enough to at least take the
dampness out of the after cabin, a luxury.  In the foc´sle the heater we
purchased in China will be plugged in again to provide some heat.   The
change from very hot to very cold is incredibly quick when we travel this
way, straight north over the water.  Jordan taught a senior lesson today and
Sarah B. held another meeting of the Offshore Club.  Simon and Jose spent
about 30 minutes wrestling back and forth playfully; it was fun to watch,
Simon loved it.  Susan finished embroidering on her ditty bag; it looks
good.  Leighsa has taken up the knitting needles again and is well into her
second scarf.  Lisa is also making progress with her lace- patterned scarf.
Elske poured the resin for her lure and Antony is doing some detail on his.
This group of trainees is not as much in to playing card games as was the
last group, but this afternoon we pulled out the SCRABBLE board and found
that many people are interested.  Before supper Adam, Christina, Jose and I
played an excellent and very fun game.  Raven, Jordan T., and Selena were
the spectators.  In the ´how long can you stay shirtless´ competition, Raven
and Chris remain in the running.  On watch they are both dressed in as much
as they can, except that their torso´s are still bared . . . brrrrr.  Last
night Adam decided being so cold wasn´t worth it anymore.  Halfway through
his 0000-0400hr watch, after he´d had his turn on the wheel, he went below,
put on multiple layers of long underwear, fleece, a coat, hat etc. and came
on deck again stating to Sarah B., his watch officer, "if there was a
human-sized microwave down there, I´d be tempted to dive in."  I will keep
you updated; I´m hoping they´ll both give in soon, there are enough things
to get used to living on the ship, being cold is one I can do without.
Jordan and Tristan continue to organize work watch with the 1200-1600hrs
watch Monday to Friday, rain or shine.  Yesterday port watch was working on
the deck and today the safety lines were given another coat of black paint.
Over the past few days, several trainees on work watch have been painting
different sections of the engine room; it is looking really smart.  The wind
is very light and the sea is quite calm; we are still motor sailing.
Skipper says we will continue on this course until 40 degrees latitude
before we will start heading more towards Canada; at this point, the weather
forecast predicts northerly winds at that latitude which means we will have
headwinds for a few days.  Usually the Westerly winds would help us on our
way and we would enjoy some good sailing; we´re still counting on them.
Everyone seems happy, life stories and interrogation within the watch groups
around mealtimes is going strong.  We have learned many interesting and
funny details about each other.  Living so close to one another, we get to
know each other well and thus we are able to share personally much easier
than we do back home.  Adrienne would like to wish her dad a very Happy
Birthday, today May 23rd.  Happy Birthday dad, love Adrienne.  Until
tomorrow night, good-night, Bonice.