Ben Edwards, crew 15.00 UTC 8 Sept
Well we’re a bit further on now. Last night I completely failed to feel tired whatsoever, and am as a result, exhausted now. The night itself was very nice. I spent a little time in the cockpit during Johans watch, there were no clouds so the view was amazing. I don’t get a night watch so I haven’t seen the night sky in weeks. Something else that is quite curious is that we have phosphorescence in the water. This means that there are little glowing green bits in the wake of the boat that are quite pretty. It’s unusual to get it in such a cold place but apparently phosphorescent algae doesn’t care what’s normal. I like its style. We’ve got a bit of a headwind at the moment which is slowing us down. What’s even better is this headwind is northerly. And given where we are that means it’s very very cold. I’ve just come off the most uncomfortable watch yet. Because we’re heading north our progress east has slowed to a crawl. We are however now less than a hundred degrees from home. Almost three quarters round. Whoo. If we’re lucky, and so far that’s been common enough, we’ll get to Greenland in five days time. Until then, business as usual, bye.
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Luminescence is one of nature’s joyous little tricks and can be mesmerising. On the surface, it can look like the Yellow Brick Road superimposed on a calm sea, constantly leading your eye to the horizon. Diving deep below at night, merely moving your hand can produce showers of bioluminescence, like flicking a sparkler…eerily beautiful, but also highly distracting when you are on the margins of hypoxia, as if you are suddenly trapped within Disney’s ‘Fantasia’….
Less than a hundred degrees from home…must be a wondrous thought.
Neil
Ben, You have the phosphorescents in the sky. From here, thanks to your writing, I have my phosphorescent point moving around. Keep posting! Cheers to you and all the team.