Race 12 - Day 14
Crew Diary - New York to Derry-Londonderry
10 July
I write this knowing that it will take some time for it to be posted. We are a few days into a media blackout. We have not been able to get weather reports on the nav station. We have not been able to mail our families and friends to update them on our progress at the moment. And for one of the crew members, they cant find out the test scores for their son to know if they should scold them or congratulate them. For me its just the weather reports that I wish could have made it.
As it is now, we get a phone call where they describe the weather to us and what has been said has not been comforting. We have been in a wind hole for awhile now, and we were living in hope that we were slowly working our way our of the dead zone and wind hole and finally get back to racing, hoping everyone had been caught in the same wind hole. We could not confirm anything but lived in hope. Then we got a call yesterday, some boats have crossed the finish line and the centre of the wind hole seems to be following us. So that was, I admit very disheartening.
But not all has been bad, the sea is calm and it looks beautiful at sunset and I will admit to now having dozens of photos of where the sky meets the calm horizon, especially at sunset. Also in good news - there was a pod of pilot whales that were playing around the boat for a few hours which has caused much merriment at the sight. We also had a large pod of dolphins and a flock of birds hunting close to the boat. They where even teaching a baby dolphin how to hunt. It was fantastic.
We have all been eating well and many of us can be caught reading nowadays to fill in the time. The boat is calm and peaceful. We have however not just sat on our asses the whole time, we have gone around the boat fixing what we can and maintaining the boat as best as we can so that when we do get to land we can spend more time exploring the sights and sounds of Ireland.
I am pleased to report that my singing has gotten better during this time, that or everyone's taste has devolved after hearing me warble on and on constantly. I have even roped a few others to join be on the musical adventure, and my watch has been know to involve a lot of dancing and singing. None of which shall ever be seen by those on land. We are a shy bunch.
Sincerely
Maximilian David Davies
PS. quite curious when this is getting posted.