07.10 Sat 23rd July
73 48 . 4 N 046 26 .2 E PRESSURE STEADY AT 1019 water temp 10.5c 9c air temp sky 8/8 Batt 14.0 bearing 022 SOG 5k distance last 24 hours 145nm
Crew good, a little sea sickness.
Woke up to being a grumpy old man.
Partly checked the new ice charts on www.nsra.ru we still have no chance of getting through yet, not past the cape or through the Laptev sea. Nikolai, Our Russian Captain who is very familiar with this route, impresses on me that this is a very unusual year and normally clear, Not what I want to hear. We are under sail, so saving fuel, and will find a small island to shelter until we get improvements. We are still 5 days from the ice, so lets hope for some southerly winds to push the ice from shore.
Ben has a list of daily chores which he does diligently. The smoke alarm is situated over my bunk. Well yesterday I did 8 hours of watch solo, which actually is quite nice, as my partners were feeling under the weather. So I was ready for a long deep sleep. For the second morning in a row, Ben has found it quite amusing to see a ‘dead to the world’ big lump, sit bolt upright in a millisecond when he presses the test button. The smile of satisfaction left his face when he saw my scowl. He won’t be doing that again !
I have not had a drink of alcohol since leaving Murmansk, except for a quick mouth wash on Ros birthday. I think I must have the DT’s! I thought it was a good idea to introduce a dry ship, except for Birthdays and the 7th rest day. Nikolai seems to have found his birthday is every day !!
Early grump can only get better.
David