The morning sunrise conversations were interrupted today by a small, but symbolic, ceremony for Shannon. Despite the fact that we are over 500 miles away from his Caribbean home of Antigua, he chose this morning to celebrate the passing and in true il mostro style- a small amount of the good stuff was deemed appropriate for the occasion. A mini bottle of Antiguan Rum was dispensed between the five of us on deck at the time. Now, anyone out there who might be expressing some concerns about alcohol and prudent seamanship needs to:A) Look closely at what we do out here. Plenty of seamanship on these boats, just not much prudence!
B) Do some research into the long relationship between sailors and Rum, especially here in the Caribbean. Additionally one mini-bar sized bottle between five probably amounts to about the same amount of booze as a teaspoon of cough medicine each, it sure does warm the throat up though.
Before the Rum break we were having a heated discussion about porridge. On one side of the table, the porridge lovers were asking the question: “why would Rob G, our onboard food coordinator, put all the porridge on the last four days, it doesn't make sense! What was he thinking?!?!" Me as lead spokesman for the defense: “well I imagine that he was thinking the last four days of the trip will be the coldest and therefore porridge might be more appropriate...you'll have to ask him".
Porridge lovers: “no, no why not spread it out more?"
These types of discussions can go on for a very long time...like days.
At this point I have to jump in and comment on the sterling work done by Rob with the food. He jumped in and took this project on during the stopover in China, ahead of our forty day leg. It is a really tough job and anyone who has ever tried feeding three meals a day to eleven, sometimes grumpy, guys for days on end will I'm certain be sympathetic . I operate as Rob's helper and trust me I'm happy to have zero responsibility. It’s enough for me that I take on the lion's share of the cooking without also being responsible for what’s being eaten as well. In port, while Rob is doing all the decision making, my job is to do the supermarket runs and search out all the random things- try finding Tabasco Sauce in China! Two days of searching to ultimately fail. Having said that a fascinating two days, I think I visited every supermarket in Qingdao. I would have to say that a supermarket visit should be the first stop on any trip abroad- there is no better way to find out how people actually live in any given country.
Rob is really good at sending out emails and spreadsheets with questionnaires. He tries to figure out the consensus and then works with the freeze dried food that we already own, plus what's available locally. Then he puts it all together and sends out a follow up email outlining what he has done so that people can double check if he has missed anything. Rob informs me that he gets very few notes back. I always send him one saying that all looks good to me but it doesn't mean much because I'll eat anything. Once at sea, Rob steps back and I take over organizing the food at sea, I field all the complaints and take all the abuse, my last line of defense is always I'll talk to Rob and we'll fix it for the next leg. This conversation usually takes place as I am either handing a bowl of food to someone or as they are handing an empty bowl. I always finish by saying "you’re welcome". Rob will grab me in a quiet moment and find out how things are working out and what the mood is in regards to the food. I think Rob Greenhalgh would make a fantastic politician, I'd vote for him!
- Rick
B) Do some research into the long relationship between sailors and Rum, especially here in the Caribbean. Additionally one mini-bar sized bottle between five probably amounts to about the same amount of booze as a teaspoon of cough medicine each, it sure does warm the throat up though.
Before the Rum break we were having a heated discussion about porridge. On one side of the table, the porridge lovers were asking the question: “why would Rob G, our onboard food coordinator, put all the porridge on the last four days, it doesn't make sense! What was he thinking?!?!" Me as lead spokesman for the defense: “well I imagine that he was thinking the last four days of the trip will be the coldest and therefore porridge might be more appropriate...you'll have to ask him".
Porridge lovers: “no, no why not spread it out more?"
These types of discussions can go on for a very long time...like days.
At this point I have to jump in and comment on the sterling work done by Rob with the food. He jumped in and took this project on during the stopover in China, ahead of our forty day leg. It is a really tough job and anyone who has ever tried feeding three meals a day to eleven, sometimes grumpy, guys for days on end will I'm certain be sympathetic . I operate as Rob's helper and trust me I'm happy to have zero responsibility. It’s enough for me that I take on the lion's share of the cooking without also being responsible for what’s being eaten as well. In port, while Rob is doing all the decision making, my job is to do the supermarket runs and search out all the random things- try finding Tabasco Sauce in China! Two days of searching to ultimately fail. Having said that a fascinating two days, I think I visited every supermarket in Qingdao. I would have to say that a supermarket visit should be the first stop on any trip abroad- there is no better way to find out how people actually live in any given country.
Rob is really good at sending out emails and spreadsheets with questionnaires. He tries to figure out the consensus and then works with the freeze dried food that we already own, plus what's available locally. Then he puts it all together and sends out a follow up email outlining what he has done so that people can double check if he has missed anything. Rob informs me that he gets very few notes back. I always send him one saying that all looks good to me but it doesn't mean much because I'll eat anything. Once at sea, Rob steps back and I take over organizing the food at sea, I field all the complaints and take all the abuse, my last line of defense is always I'll talk to Rob and we'll fix it for the next leg. This conversation usually takes place as I am either handing a bowl of food to someone or as they are handing an empty bowl. I always finish by saying "you’re welcome". Rob will grab me in a quiet moment and find out how things are working out and what the mood is in regards to the food. I think Rob Greenhalgh would make a fantastic politician, I'd vote for him!
- Rick
