Day 2

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Day 2 - Wednesday, April 2 2008

Immersion suits are fun. If they had a sheep-skin outer covering I’d bring one home for Bob, knowing Aberdonians would find that completely irresistible. They look like the kind of blow-up girlfriend he’s always fancied, except in pre-inflation mode and much better-looking than his usual live selections.

The difference with an immersion suit is that it’s not inflatable. You have to climb inside and then it adapts to the contours of the wearer. It’s like a one-piece frogman’s outfit with a big zip-up shawl collar that you pull over your head, then wind around your neck before shackling the whole apparatus to a waist-band. The neck-wrap doubles as a flotation aid (keeping head above water’s never been so easy) and there are two lanyards for lashing on to your partner so you don’t get separated. Kinky, eh? But how do you tie a reef knot in a length of rope when you’re treading water and your hands are sheathed in insulated polypropylene? Rubber’s never been my thing, so I settled for watching Linda do the practice run as I had grave doubts if I’d ever get out of it again. The suit’s remarkably clingy and stretchy but there was nothing on the label to say if it was pre-lubricated. Nor was there are any sign of a bottle of baby oil or a can of talcum powder to ease the process.

That was all part of today’s safety briefing - just in case we do a Titanic. If we have to abandon ship, the immersion suits will protects us from hypothermia in zero water temperatures or worse. The Tosca people are obviously taking no chances - even if we are nearing the equator. We were roughly in the latitude of Bombay at the time, so with global warming the way it is and the Antarctic shelf rapidly disintegrating, there could well be icebergs lurking in our path as we move south. You just can’t be too careful these days. We’ve got two of these suits in the cabin so that’s always potential for recreation once we’ve exhausted the book stock. Just have to check if there’s a jar of Vaseline to be had in the bosun’s locker, and then… whoopee!

You’ll be assured to know there are plenty lifeboats on board. Each can hold 40 people, and as there are only 20 or so of us all told - officers, crew, and the two passengers - there will be no need to worry about women and children first. We can just about have one each if we count the liferafts as well. To be on the safe side, I’ve assigned Linda to iceberg watch so we will have ample warning if the worst comes to the worst. Trouble is, she tends to fortify herself enthusiastically from the gin locker before going on duty, so I’m not sure how much faith I can put in her lookout capabilities. Still, while she’s thus occupied in the crow’s nest at the masthead, I can carry on my own research work without interruption or distraction. So far, Tsingtao is scoring very well. Light, crisp, and refreshing - all in all a very commendable beer. I can also report that Guinness and Heineken seem wholly unaffected by marine exposure. If anything, the sea air enhances their proven shoreside qualities. As yet, I am unable to comment on any deviation in the whisky stock that could be attributable to environmental factors.
Comprehensive experiments are planned at a later stage and detailed reports will be submitted for peer review. Scientific rigour must always be our watchword in such matters.

It’s now almost hammock time again. We’re gaining an hour a day and we’re getting geared to sunrise and sunset rather than clock time. We watched a spectacular sunset earlier this evening with a kaleidoscope of colour changing almost by the second as the sun slipped quickly below the horizon. Blink and it’s gone. The skipper says we must watch closely for the rare phenomenon of green light just as the sun disappears. Apparently we’re in the right part of the world for it and the required atmospheric conditions are perfect. Never heard of this one before. Perhaps it’s in the same category as the golden rivet that’s supposed to be on every ship. At least with the golden rivet I know better than to make further enquiries as to its precise location. Green sunset? Hmm. We’ll keep looking. Maybe it’s like asking Judy Garland the whereabouts of the ‘weigh a pie’ department. You don’t know? Over the Rainbow of course. Where else would it be?

Tonight’s dinner was particular noteworthy: half a ruby grapefruit mixed with crab meat ‘Au Sarimi’; grilled trout with hollandaise sauce; assorted ice-creams dowsed in Grand Marnier; cheese board; fresh fruit platter; coffee. All washed down with a bottle of Pays d’Oc. I could get used to this. No mobile phones, no television, no newspapers. The only distractions are the infinity of the ocean and the mysteries of the night sky.

If you plot our positions, you’ll see we’re heading arrow-like to the south-east and will skirt the southern tip of India before rounding Sri Lanka and changing course for the Straits of Malacca. Anti-pirate drill coming up tomorrow, so more excitement in store. Stand by to repel boarders!

(Correction: Typo yesterday put Tosca at 240 metres overall length. That should have been 340, but what’s 100 metres between friends? Unless you’re an Olympic sprinter worried about the urine samples.)

Noon position 17◦36.1 N - 66◦55.8 E
Day’s run to noon - 566 miles
708 miles out from Khor Fakkan
Average speed - 24.6 knots

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Comments

[MACDONALD]

Can you track this ship
MAC - ASK the Captain why the callsign FMEL is not coming up on my tracker program.I'm using Sailwx.info, and trying to find the Tosca name and the callsign, but nae Luck...?