FROM 1-12. 26°S-Nose Brazil

Apr 29, 2005 - 2300hrs UTC │Hole in the Milky Way I

2300hrs 29 Apr 2005 UTC Map Ref 191

Thanks to Barry D., here it is in full:

Edward Fitzgerald’s translation of Omar Khaiyyam’s verse, DAWN.

Awake! For morning in the bowl of night,

Has flung the stone that puts the stars to flight:

And lo! The hunter of the east has caught,

The Sultan’s turret in a noose of light.

[ed: There’s actually been a subsequent response that includes another 5 verses here]

I think Fitzgerald was on to something there. I expect he could have knocked off a Guardian Weekly crossword in about 5 minutes too. Bastard. Makes a bloke feel about as adequate as a Golgafrinchan Telephone Sanitiser. JJ, fascinated to hear about the new HGTTG movie. Will try to find it when we get there.

We are bean reaching more or less straight up 31 west at about 7 knots in about 25 and a lumpy sea with a water temp of 29.5 degrees. Lovely to ge going north again at a good speed – thought we’d ever get going again at one stage. We’ve discovered that Berri has one huge deficiency – she doesn’t have Dorade vents. These are big scoopy ventilators that force air into the boat but keep water out. I put in hatches on the coachroof for ventilation and access – ok in Sydney but up here, in these conditions, they just scoop in all the masses of water that blows and flows over the deck and we have to keep them closed. Consequently, there’s no air movement inside and in these temperatures, it’s quite unlivable. I go below to try to sleep and I’m running with sweat in about 90 seconds – no hope of sleeping whatever. Big problem. We’ve improvised little scoops over the little plastic air vents but inadequate. I’m going to have to sleep in the cockpit for the next few weeks if this continues.

Question for the astronomers – there’s an area of darkness next to the Southern Cross that seems to have no stars and almost no light coming from it. It is between the two stars on the long side next to the pointers, roughly oval and about the size of the Cross itself. I thought it was a cloud yesterday, but it’s still there today. Looks as if there’s a hole in the Milky way – it this all it is?

El, great to hear from you and glad things are going OK – say Hi to himself.

Lovely joke Kim – really should be shared but perhaps not!

Yo the Vettery – thanks for the photo which Mal described to us – I think Titan Uranus should be our new motto. Needs a T shirt. For the uninitiated, Malcolm will post the photo.

[ed: here is the photo](broken link)

Rowley, talk to Marty Andersen at RPA – he installed our radio and modem and all the other goodies. Berri was in Coffs as Leven for a few years before I bought her.

George, didn’t know you are in the business of books – please run the idea past your contacts and see if there are any bites.

RANSA Doug, don’t get put off cruising by our experiences – we had to go to some pretty funny places to get the weather we did and we sort of deserved what we got!

Hi Kees – have a good dinner – we’ll be thinking of you.

Comments are closed.