Wednesday 3rd June - Colour and Sports section
Catmojo
Matt
Wed 3 Jun 2020 15:15
Wednesday morning, more fabulous weather, bright sunshine and an almost entirely cloudless light blue sky which matches perfectly with Ampi's Argentina national soccer team shirt. I'm not an Argentina soccer fan, obviously, but I am a huge fan of their shirt colours which is perhaps the best in the world I think, really, the white and sky blue with gold bits is very distinctive, tasteful and fabulous. Argentina footy shirts also have two gold stars above the badge because they've won two soccer World Cups, whereas I'm not sure if Engerland shirts even bother with the one star for 1966, do they? Perhaps a little Russian linesman would be appropriate, whatever.
See, overseas (i.e. not in England as far as I know) the soccer team shirts include stars around the badge, the number of stars denoting the number of times they've won stuff, or eventually each star represents every five times they've won whatever Incredibly Important championship thingy. Anyway, I reckon Ampi's Argentina shirt must (like most flippin footy shirts) have cost at least fifty bucks or more, and well worth it. Football-wise (and ONLY football-wise) I kinda wish I was a bit Argentinian as it would have significantly (hugely) improved my enjoyment of World Cup soccer over the last 40 years or so, especially with that nicer and more distinctive colour scheme, much better than Engerland ditherish sometimes-white or sometimes-red. And I would have been absolutely FINE about it if it had been Lineker cheatily patting the ball into the net with his hand, but instead it's been Southgate missing penalties, Beckham getting sent off and Gascoigne weeping, yeah, great effort there guys, Not. Is Geoff Hurst still alive, banging on and ON about 3 goals in 1966? Jeez. That's enough about football/soccer - the Blog Police will be twitching.
James is operating as Blog Police and he's forwarding the email blogs to others all over the world. This saves satellite phone time which otherwise rather uselessly checks if the Bcc list email addresses are all valid during the call, at two dollars a minute eek!
Some liveaboard friends on a boat "Arctic Flame" in Lanzarote are advising that I book ahead and yes, Calero have been emailed and say there's a space for Mojo, and no, I'm not avoiding Arctic Flame or anyone in Marina Rubicon at all, but it's handier for boaty engineering types I think, and MUCH handier for the Amura restaurant if/when that opens again, with (maybe) the dreamy Raspberry Gaspacho.
I've got to fill in some form and send it back to the Puerto Calero Marina people, and it's very fortunate that I have a Spanish speaker on board to translate. I'll send it when we have a clearer idea of which month we might get there.
Meanwhile this morning I had a fight with the Wind Gods, and of course I lost badly, again. The wind was 5knots from the NE, exactly where I want to go. Undeterred, I tried turning northish with all sails up and managed 2kts SOG (Speed Over Ground) with Course Over Ground (cog) 355degrees, but that gets me almost no distance at all closer to Lanzarote 1600 miles away on a course of 80degrees. Actually it might be going slightly backwards. So instead of that, I turned south, the other way and that option is sailable at about 145degrees COG. So both these options are rather like shuffling sideways to get a better view in a cinema, which never works very well. Especially if the screen is over a thousand miles away.
The Fuel Police (Anna) got involved yesterday and said that by her calculations we could use 80litres a day, which sounds plenty, doesn't it? Well yes, but I have to be in Stingy Mode, which means we're now tootling along at 4.5knots on one engine at 1800rpm, no foresail but full mainsail up.
I kept the mainsail up partly because it might win a bit of speed, and partly because I didn't want to take it all down and then have to put it all up again, especially as bringing the sail down makes a massive crash bang with everyone else sleeping, and also partly because the big sail kinda dampens sideways rolling, and partly of course I keep the mainsail up to make it Look Good - that I'm making a Proper Sailing Effort, rather than the usual Matthew motorboating around some ocean yet again, which I am actually doing, although as above, I have limited options.
Anna is always very positive, and was quite philosophical about the notion of Just Sitting There Waiting For Wind If That's How It's Gotta Be If we Run Outta Fuel, which is a very good sign, crew-wise. Very often the crew have sneakily booked a flight at the other end, and even though I say There's No Guarantees About When We Arrive So Don't Book a Flight, they still book it (say) a week after we're supposed to arrive, and That's going to be doable isn't it, Matthew? Jeez. This time it's quite different of course, with air travel somewhat de-invented (devented?) following the sad world news that People Are Dying due to the wassername Coronation Street Virus, which particularly affects older people. Although yeah, 60million a year die in normal times so 0.5% extra OMG and we haven't had a recession for a while anyway, what the heck. "May You Live In Interesting Times" is an old Chinese proverb, which I remember citing for Brexit and Trump, but now it's getting ridiculous. Plague of Locusts is probably next up of the Four Horsemen of the Er Poker Lips, so best stock up with fly spray ASAP I reckon.
In other news I am getting grassed up by others who know me and/or have been on previous sailing trips - comparing notes about boat-based fun such as the Chocolate Prank. Plenty of time yet, and thanks for reminding me.
Finally, and as another gentle sunny day begins, the crew exchanged reports of their previous night's dreams. Ooh? Last night Anna dreamed that she'd was an intern in a hospital (although for the rest of us that means as Junior Doctor, really, with a white coat innit, and which is her real-life job) and she had just done two consecutive twenty-four hour shifts (which No, that never happens) and then she had to help deliver a baby for someone, and find them a house in Amsterdam as well. Sounds more of a nightmare to me, but surely shows excellent comittment from Anna. Ampi's dream involved going to a Jewish Wedding on an otherwise desert island. But before the wedding started they had to go to another island, a tall mountainous one, with many different "levels". The bottom level was crocodiles, second level was swimming, third level was full of wild grey+white mutant monkeys, and then she woke up. Jeez! Sam says he only ever has the usual English Bloke Dream of scoring the winning goal at the World Cup Soccer Finals, which he's had since about five years old. Or sometimes playing tennis against Andy Murray at Wimbledon. Nobody going crazy here then.
Ooh, late morning Wednesday, proper sailing at 6 knots in 9 knots of wind, but we're pointing at Cape Towm, never mind...