Monday 23 June 2008

McQ: 1+1=2 or maybe it's 3 or 5 today????

Mind is boggled with numbers today; we have spent some time, quite a bit of time really, more than is perhaps necessary in these electronic-chart-times, pouring over the paper charts for the next few stages of the journey. We have marked out waypoints and worked out distances the old fashioned way with plotter and dividers. There is, however, something romantic and great about paper charts- much like reading a real book or newspaper, or writing a handwritten letter is far more satisfying than trying to read online or send emails: There is something wonderful about pouring over the various place names and considering their connotations to voyages of yonks ago and those explorers and adventurers trying to discover routes through the ice and islands, Cambridge Bay, Lady Franklin Island, Edinburgh Island, M'Clintock Channel, Victoria Island, Rickets Bay, Prince William Island, Tasmanian Islands, to name but a few. Edinburgh Island and Tasmanian Islands, of course, being the most important waypoints for Kimbra and myself!!!! We even added distances up in our heads (one might expect the creative mental arithmetic of two engineers to be a more agreeable exercise than it turned out!!!! Perhaps at the stage of adding various distances of 100's of miles and the low level of correlation between K and  my results should have spurred us on to open a spreadsheet and get Mr A Mac to add for us) We persisted though and are fairly confident, if a little brain frazzled that things are now accurate!!! I will need to leave some time before adding 1+1  again though…

Yesterday saw the engine being moved- as I am sure Big A will have reported. The day before was a variety of little productive jobs: up the mast on the new genoa halyard: I can report that it definitely needed stretching. Poor Kimbra has one wonky arm now having wound me all the way up!!!! Sails have been stitched, I tried my best to partake in this little job (painful chore???) and managed to only have one tantrum!!!! A first for me when it comes to sewing sails, but relative to the fact that the length of sail I was sewing was about 6 inches long it was a big grumpety-grump!!!

Kimbra and I planned to climb Mount Ballyhoo today but it was pretty cloudy up at the top this morning, so after a long Sunday brunch to let the cloud burn off we looked out of the window again, by which time, of course, it was pouring with rain- typical!!! We shall check the weather tonight and if there is no sign of the gearbox tomorrow morning we will reconsider out summit attempt… we may even be able to pursuade Big A to take some time out from all the jobs he keeps pottering on with and have a full Berri outing, vertically!!!!

That's about it for now

Lots of love to everyone

McQ

Xxx

Ps. Gems, you crazy loon, how did the 55mile hike go???

Pps: Gonzales, metho sub is indeed a working metho sub!!!



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