St.Helena. The wind is tentavily, or should I say shyly, starting to
cause a bit of a ripple on the water. And we, in turn have our headsail
out, still motoring but going just a tad faster with the sail out. The
sky is filled with scattered clouds. As a kid we used to lay on our
backs and imagine all types of images in the clouds, and that has never
changed. I still see the dramas that take place above us, and are still
enthralled by the charactters that are conjured in my mind.
Last night I was once again mesmerized by the stars above. There is so
much to see up there, and if I may recommend, search for and download
Stellarium on the net. But beware, it will astound you endlessly having
an idea of what is out there. And when you are feeling a bit under the
weather and the usual diversions like tv and magazines don't do it
anymore, expand your mind and your horizons, and hopefully it will lift
your spirits sky high, naturally.
I was feeling a bit down last night. A bit is an understatement and all
my own fault. I phone my family twice a week for five minutes or so and
when I phoned last night I only had five minutes airtime left. Just
enough to send a mail or two, so I hopoe this one goes through. I had to
tell my daughter that daddy can't speak tonight as I need the last few
minutes to request more airtime . Nicky, our operations manager in Cape
Town, the best in the business, needs to be informed and she will place
an order with our server. Not sure if it can happen on a Saturday.
Fortunately we are close to St.Helena and will skype my family, which is
miles better than a phone call. Still,my heart was torn as I call home
every Monday and Friday and always count the days, the hours, the minutes
and the seconds before I call. The calls are prohibitively expensive from
a satelite phone, so we have to exercise great discipline. So if you
don't receive mail from the crew on board you know why. Nick placed a bit
of perspective on the matter by saying that it is a privilige for the
crew to have email on board in the first place and that did take some
burden off me, thanks Nick. Most other yachts don't have this privilege.
Nautical term today Beam Ends. A ship on her beam ends is one about to
sink, i.e. laid over on her side so far that her beams, or deck supports,
are in the water. It was an expressive way for the sailor to say he was
broke and the expression still means impecunity. Good name for a country
cottage.
The loom of St.Helena will become visible sometime tonight and grow bigger
and bigger. Tomorrow morning I will instruct Steven to drop anchor and
Eduan and Nick will enjoy the island of the Saints for the first time. Hope
you have a most wonderful weekend.
Captain Paul
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