*This email was written before PUMA hit the scoring gate early this morning.
I've been holding off with the blog today in the hope that we would arrive at the scoring/ice gate before close of business here in the media station at 2359 hrs GMT. The main reason for waiting is that we have been hanging on to a slim lead over the other boats all day and as I write, Telefonica Blue just appeared out of the fog about 300 meters to leeward. That’s a small gain to them since the last sched but still leaves us in the best position tactically. Shannon just commented that we need every half point we can get at this stage of the game, particularly against the boys on the blue boat.
The guys have been changing back and forth between the J1 and the Masthead Genoa all day and with the boats all being so close to one another, small losses and gains due to execution of the change can be monitored by Capey in the nav station. No doubt his fellow navigators are doing the same to us. So whilst I’m waiting for the gate or midnight and while I'm talking about Capey, another issue comes to mind...
Capey and I are in a war of wills at the moment. It’s really more of a turf war. To him, the media station is basically just an overflow area for nav station equipment that he only uses from time to time. The big issue at the moment seems to be a home that we can all agree on for the crew communications computer that, until recently, lived quite happily in the nav station. That is until Capey decided he didn't want the crew in there waking him up or getting in the way of his "important" work! So now the crew computer lives in the media station amongst all the other miscellaneous pieces of equipment that live quietly there on stand-by or being charged.
The last leg found the computer Velcroed down right in the middle of where I work, making life if not unbearable then more than a bit annoying. So I came up with a solution for stowing the damn thing that I call "designated crew computer storage location.” It’s up and out of everyone’s way, but still in a convenient spot so that the crew can access it and quickly write an email prior to sending over our onboard wireless network. Problem solved? I wish! Secretly the computer has been making its way back onto the media station for no apparent reason. So, lying in my bunk earlier today (apparently sleeping, but actually dozing) I watched Michi come down off watch, eat and then quickly check his email before heading off to his bunk. Like the good citizen, he is, upon finishing Michi put the computer back in the "designated crew computer storage location". About five minutes later with one eye open I watched Capey come along take the computer from said location and stick it down on the Velcro in the media station, where it still sits- managing to both annoy me, and get in my way at the same time.
As I write Capey is about 1.2 meters away from me so I'm going to do a little experiment and see if he says anything when I put the thing back where I think it belong.
Now, I know Capey pretty well, in fact I was an usher at his wedding nearly twenty years ago. Therefore, his reaction comes as no surprise to me...nothing, not a word, no reaction whatsoever. As you can imagine this is very frustrating. Life on a boat can be very strange sometimes and certainly aboard the fine yacht il mostro- that’s definitely the case. So, in the spirit of getting along and since there's not many more days at sea left in this race so I'm not going to worry about it too much. I will however continue to put it in "designated crew computer storage location" whenever I find it in the media station.
It looks as though the outcome of the battle for the scoring gate will not be resolved before the shut off for today's blog. The outcome will be well documented tomorrow, so for now I will sign off and grab a few zzz’s before we get there and I am called upon to document the moment.
- Rick
