Apr 09, 2005 - 1900hrs UTC │Boredom I

1900hrs 09 Apr 2005 UTC Map Ref 159

Greetings fro an area with calm seas and soft warm breeze – for the moment.

To answer some questions:

• Ian Nursey – why no fishing?
  Normally I’m the first to get a line over the side but in the southern ocean things were different. There was a lot of bird life and I wouldn’t want to snare a young albatross. Also, you feel extremely fragile down there, its a very hard environment, it’s isolated and you feel empathy for all other living creatures down there, but the short answer is that I wasn’t hungry and I didn’t want to disturb the neighbours. Things will probably change as we get warmer and more comfortable in the calmer environment.
• Michelle, you ask some good provocative questions.
  Do you get bored – do you get annoyed with eachother? The boat is so small, how do you cope with being so restricted?
  Bored? Bloody well bored – I’m so looking forward to being bored. I’ve been beaten, bruised, battered, brutalised bloodied but never bored. In the southern ocean, we were always living on the edge. We were small and vulnerable. A 33 foot boat is not the boat of choice for down there. But you can make it if you are careful and make no mistake. With these parameters, boredom doesn’t exist. Since leaving Stanley, we seem to be in 3 day cycles of good and bad weather. By the time you recover in the good times, its all on again. Boredom will become a problem in a month’s time when we are north of the equator and the horse latitudes. I’m looking forward to it.

  To the next question – of course we get annoyed with eachother – we wouldnt be human if we didn’t get annoyed in such close confinement. But for us to complete this little adventure, we must trust and help eachother and not be concerned with the trivial crap that sours many friendships. It’s Alex’s boat – we consult about things, i have as much input as I likebut the final call is his. We both agree on the important things that affect the safety of the boat. we have sailed enough together and been in enough situations to have confidence in eachother’s abilities.
  When oyur’e tired and exhausted, it’s easy to get annoyed but we give sufficient latitude to eachother to get over this. There have been no arguments, no shouting matches. There have been many disagreements but at the end of the day over perhaps a Gin and tonic, alex will agree that i was right and i will agree that he was right. The weather must have something to do with it – on a day like today, I don’t think even alan Jones could annoy me. I’ll leave your question on close confinement till later.

• Michelle is my niece – her sister Karyn has just become engaged to her best friend Fernando. If any of you have a bottle nearby, pull the cork, pour a tipple and wish them a long and wonderful life together. Our best wishes go out to you both.
• Mr Judd, try Noel Garnett on 9546 7229 – he is good on period skirtings and architraves. He amy not be up and running at the moment as he recently had a hip replaced.

I’ll get out of your way now – cheers o all – Pete.