Thursday may 10th. 2018, 1000 h. local time.
We have passed the half way mark, after almost five days we have travelled 850 nautical miles and used 1825 litres of diesel.That is an average of 2.15 litres per mile, about 15 litres per hour.
Not bad for a steel ship, the Four Seasons runs like clockwork and cuts through the water like a knife through butter at almost 8 knots.
We are very fortunate, it’s another fine day, the barometer is steady around 1028 mb. the wind has veered from South east to South west and still light and blowing our way.
If we have anything to complain about it is the drift that has set us North from the beginning of our trip. We have to constantly steer 20 degrees to starboard to make our course good over the ground. The Gulf Stream isn’t on our side yet.
To sum up, we have the wind at our backs, figuratively and literally, and we have all we need. We have to watch out with water and electricity because of the failed port hand alternator. The wash room is temporarily closed but we can shower and we still have clean clothes, so you can’t smell us downwind, yet.
We still have plenty to eat and drink, every morning we wake to the smell of fresh bread and every evening we sit down to a hot meal, rustled up by our peerless ship’s cook.
For Joost we even have a pack of sigarettes aboard. Peter and I gave up in the last century, but Joost hasn’t seen the light yet.
He has his reasons. He insists that when he feels the onset of stress, frustration or anger he has to turn to a calming cigarette.
Fine, now that we know that we keep a weather eye on him and ask him at regular intervals how he feels.
If he feels something coming on, never mind the situation, even when he is on watch, he has to warn us. Take a break, light up, no problem, we will say. We will do all we can to keep him contented.
A couple of days ago. he did report something strange. During his night watch the sky turned yellow, then orange and finally a fiery red. an enormous explosion followed and all went black. He braced himself for the tsunami but it never came.
A strange story, Peter an I were asleep and missed the whole event. Could it have been a UFO, I enquired. With a strange look in his eyes he asked if it was OK if he went out for a smoke. Fine, take a break, no problem.
Just in time, but to avoid further problems I promised to enter his story into the logbook. (under the heading Unconfirmed Observations JB of L).
My regards to you all, until the next time, when you will hear more of what we do and don’t do all day aboard the Four Seasons,
Edzard Braam,
Commander of the Four Seasons
