Christmas and Dolphins

This is my first ever blog post which is quite exciting. I just thought I'd prewarn you ahead of  what is inevitably a host of punctuation and grammatical errors. The last 24h have been my favorite so far on board. Some tricky, light winds for most of yesterday, combined with the rolling effect from the waves caused the boom to slam occasionally and headsail to collapse as we continue downwind, on route to St. Lucia. However, it did mean we were able to hoist our full main sail for the first time on the crossing and gave us plenty to do on deck. By the afternoon the wind was fairly steady and has continued to be so throughout the night. The sun has been out almost constantly, with a scattering of clouds, which led to a nice sunset and an even more impressive moonrise.

Christmas has begun on the boat. Yesterday morning the kids began creating little green and red elves with long felt hats. They also made little Christmas trees to hang from the boat. This morning I emerged from my cabin in my usual bleary eyed state to Christmas music, which certainly brightened the effects of a 0000 - 0400 night watch. No doubt our usual afternoon memory games and snap will continue to keep me on toes.

Life on board has become remarkable comfortable, with good food and high spirits from all. Unfortunately the sea is still taking its toll on Elise, who is looking better, but struggling with the rolling. Our bananas are also becoming progressively more seasick and in an attempt to avoid wasting all of them, Øyvind and I made our 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th banana cake of the voyage yesterday. They have baked surprisingly well considering we're at sea. We have also begun fishing, but 20h later, still no fish. We'll keep you posted.

I've left the best for last though. The highlight of yesterday was a pod of dolphins (we aren't sure if this is the right collective noun, but I mean who actually knows when to use school, shoal or pod anyway). There were about twelve dancing and diving around our bow wave. I'm not sure whether the kids or I were more excited, but either way it was a very special moment on board. I felt very fortunate to be joined by another two pods during my night watch. It was perhaps even more incredible when you are alone on deck under the moonlight and the splash you 30 seconds ago attributed to a bow wave, turns out to be dolphins jumping out of from the black to join you beneath the stars. Unreal.

So that's all from me for now. I hope everything is well at home, both in Norway and England. We are missing you all lots. I'm especially missing my family and close friends, but it's not too long until Christmas now.

See you soon,

 

Will (and all aboard Friskus)