ORCV Melbourne to Vanuatu (M2V)

Herding Cats.

You know - theoretically possible, but in practice proves to be far more difficult... Such was definitely the case with Kimbo, the Ship's cat off Samskara. Gone completely AWOL and I had to ferret around, just to dig something up... Bad cat! No Whiskas for you.

"The 0915 sched has just confirmed that we have spent the last 12 hours pushing a ore train load of current, with the wind also dying out through the night, we covered just 64 nautical miles in the last 12 hours... not good!!!! We now seem to be through the worst of it, with the wind picking up to 10-15 knots and our speed over the ground is now showing little to no current effecting us."

"Although it was a slow night, it was also simply stunning to be on deck, clear skies with just a few small rain squalls, zilllions of stars with many of them falling out of the sky - I counted at least five last night. No lights or city lume and a very small moon means the stars punch out an amazing amount of light, which seems even brighter than a full moon night in town. It is an absolutely beautiful feeling ghosting along with the bubbling of the ocean and the creaking of the boat as the only sounds to accompany you", said our harmonious cat.

Samskara right in the centre of frame, making her way into the start, she would have been about sixth over the line...

"The temperature is definitely rising with everyone wearing less and less layers. I am now only in 4 layers of thermals instead of 6, possibly a bit extreme, but I am a spoilt tropics cat! On sched time, we also just passed 155 degrees of longitude, which in turn meant we had to advise race control that the HF radio, all systems, the boat and crew are in good condition to continue the race. A celebrity sip was had to mark this milestone!" Milk for you Kimbo!!!!

"All the crew are fit and well, except for our first minor injury with Stoopy fossicking too deeply into the fridge and knocking the spring that holds the incredibly heavy lid open with his elbow, which then resulted in a nice cut above his left eye. The sympathy shown from all of the crew was overwhelming, with James playing nurse and decorating his melon with criss-cross band-aid action. Poor Stoops seems to be re-covering well, steering us out of the current and back into good speeds."

Wounds for the helmer....

Galley Action:

Lasagne last night went down a treat. Jesse was the galley star this morning cooking up bacon and egg sangers for everyone - good work Jesse!

Sunset Concert:

Nick Fo lashed out on the guitar yesterday afternoon, belting out a few old favorites and composing a few new numbers to add to the ever growing Samskara repertoire. We need the chords to Peace Train if anyone can email them to us that would be great. NB: Pls don't send, already done, they are probably strumming it right now....

Nature Spots:

Dead squid on deck - keeping for bait. A complete rainbow - if only a camera can capture that image..

Right here right now:

"The Waifs tunes pumping through the speakers, all on deck, Leon rigging fishing line in search of Mahi Mahi, James searching locker for sika-flex to fix some head piping (read toilet), Mike steering, everyone else trying not to laugh at Stoopy's wound! Not much else to report other than the crew cheering that our speed over ground is now showing 10.5 knots. How quickly we are all pushing away the memories of wallowing around last night - we're back! We hope!"

Now so do we Kimbo...

To see where the fleet are located after the latest sked, please go HERE.

By John Curnow