We are into our third week at sea now and whilst the time is definitely not flying, it is blurring. It has been 15 days since we last saw land and 5 days since we last saw lights from any other boats. Andrew and co. have taken their fishing rods on a different tack. We have been accompanied at times by a few dolphin and fortunately no whales

A certain repetitivenesses is occurring particularly with the skipper’s comments –
“We just need 5 more knots of wind.” – “ We just need the wind to come from any direction other than this one.” – “ The wind might pick up tomorrow.” – “Are we in the Trade Winds?” – “Google trade winds and it will tell you they’re supposed to be a constant 17 – 25 knots of sustained wind.” And so on and so on ……
We are making progress and as one of my cheeky family members said “ looks like you only have an inch to go on my computer screen”.

We are obligated to check-in twice daily to the fleet SSB net ( think ham radio). As the communications officer I am getting the hang of the lingo and getting used to saying “niner” instead of nine. Saying “ break, break” “I read you loud and clear” or “I do not copy”. On occasion I need to do relay between boats and of course use the correct words to refer to the alphabet – alpha, echo etc.

Last night when getting up to take my midnight to 3:00 am shift the skipper decided to alarm me by saying that because of the above- mentioned inadequate wind, we are really going to have to ration our food. Yes, we have provisioned poorly. Never fear, there is a huge stash of unappetizing rice and beans and an endless supply of powdered milk from which to make yogurt.

This is Foxtrot India Oscar November Alpha – signing out.