Everything seems pretty mellow here onboard il mostro this morning in fact, its looking as though Salty and Sid might just get a full 4hrs of sleep during this off watch. Recently it has seemed as though they get woken for a gybe, sail change or some other event about 2hrs into every one of their off watch sleep's. On average most maneuvers take about 45 minutes start to finish so by the time they are done and back in the bunk they have little or no time to get back to into a quality sleep - they are probably starting to think about the next on watch...its the ultimate vicious cycle. So I'm hoping that they get the full 4 this time, they've earned it, the whole crew has been working really hard and I think our current position in the fleet (leading) reflects their hard work.
1025hrs
Is it April 1st? We just heard about McCain withdrawing from the Presidential Race!!!!!!! Jonathan McKee and I are very happy, Jerry not so much, he's running around the boat shouting wait till the taxes go up!
1045hrs
Gybing, Sid and Salty take one for the team again.
1145hrs
Capey just informed that we won't be tacking the boat again until Cape Town, I'm no expert but I think not, it's about 6000 miles away!
1215hrs
"Bobotje" for lunch, it's the national dish of South Africa and also probably about the best freeze dried meal I ever ate.
1300hrs
I'm sitting back in the media station watching the blue bar on the computer screen. Weather is downloading...media is uploading.
1315hrs
The position sched just came in...all smiles on Il Mostro.
1515hrs
Just waking up groggy from a sitting nap at the media station - needed but not so comfortable.
Also found out that we were victims of a terrible wind-up regarding the McCain withdrawal from the Presidential race. We live in a bubble here on the boat and in re-reading the email it seems an obvious April Fools stunt in October, or maybe we just wanted to believe it.
1600hrs
Sid and Salty getting off watch...fingers crossed.
Could definitely do with a break in the weather I need the boat to smooth out so that I can do my Bio-Mass test project, it's nice to be going fast though.
1725hrs
Spent the last hour on deck taking pictures, it's starting to look as though the breeze is dying.
1915hrs
Oops...Forgot to put dinner on. Now I'm scrambling to get it done and ready for 2000hrs.
2000hrs
Sid and Salty coming on deck looking ready, alert and well rested.
2100hrs
Be careful what you wish for - the breeze has really started to drop out now and as I write I can hear the crew all around me re-trimming the boat for the new conditions. I will go and get some sleep now for a few hours and then press on with my work once the boat has settled down a bit.
