Midnight Fire Alarm
Location: Underway to Richard's Bay
Popcorn has become a key feature of the night watch routine for all three watch teams. Since leaving Mauritius and re-stocking our corn supply, a popcorn representative has made a large bowl of popcorn nearly 100% of the time, with 'kettle corn' becoming the most recent trend. All has been plane sailing in this regard, with Bodhi from watch team 1, Amanda Mantel from watch team 2, and Ava from watch team 3 consistently bringing the goods to the cockpit. However, things changed last night when Ali got involved with Ava, and the now moderate sea state threw them off their normal groove. A heavy hand with the oil left the popcorn swimming at the bottom of the bowl. Although they were determined not to allow any piece go to waste and ended up fishing the piece out the bottom, they set off the fire alarm at 04:33, waking the entire boat, apart from Kackie, who somehow managed to sleep through both the alarm and flashing lights. Once everyone was gathered in the cockpit with type 1 PFDs (personal floatation devices, aka life jackets) and immersion suits, Ali and Ava whispered a quiet sorry before everyone could head back to bed. The wind has begun to pick up… finally! The crew was finally hands-on lines again, raising the main sail and flying jib before lunch. Although it is not quite strong enough yet, the ~10 knots of apparent wind is supplementing the engine, adding about 0.5 knots, allowing us to keep 8 knots at best. We are keeping our fingers crossed for a steady increase in wind speed over the day to hopefully allow a period of peaceful time with no engine overnight.
As we approach the continental shelf of Africa over the next few days, we are hopeful we will see more marine life. During a stunning sunset last night, Hannah pointed out a breaching whale, which showed itself twice more before night fell. Today, Travis and Will spotted an oceanic manta ray, which is very special when you consider the size of the ocean and how few of these animals there are these days. Sightings like these are always so grounding and remind us we are visitors to these animals' ocean homes. Fingers crossed for some penguins, dolphins, rays, and more whales in a few weeks when we head into Cape Town. It is crunch time for the four classes at the moment. All the navigation master practice exams are done, and oceanography has a literature review due soon. Today, the students took a marine biology exam, which had Travis, Philip, and Amanda Mantel make it their daily appreciation while others had opposite feelings about it! The day was finished off with a kale and chickpea salad, chicken, and falafel (for the veggies). The sky is clear this evening, and we are in for yet another phenomenal sunset.
Everyone takes up their sunset viewing spots, with my favorite right at the limits of the deck by the bow. It is always a lovely sight to take my eyes off the sunset, glance back down the boat, and see small groups of students and staff at various points down to the stern with an orange glow, big smiles, and mutual feelings of contentment and peace at sea. Juliette likes the top of the emergency companionway, Charlie, Philip, and Travis are at the top of the main companionway, and the rest of the staff and the watch team are on shift in the cockpit, with some stragglers dotted down the deck. It seems the wind will not be enough to carry us at an adequate speed to get into Richards Bay on time for tonight, so the main sail is back down, and we are motoring for now. See you in 780nm South Africa! Sending all my love to you, Evie, and my lovely family. Until next time, Gigantor - aka Ben