[password] radioactiv
[position] 31 46.020S 174 54.442E
[weather] Baro 1023 (bit of a drop). 95% cloud cover, it was clear blue skies this morning. It?s like a mill pond out here! No swell, no wind,
[speed] 5.5
[heading] 001M
[status] Before Sasha gives you a run down of yesterday and this morning, she just wanted to give a shout out to Charlotty and Ricky Baker, thanks for your bon voyage gift, and really sorry I forgot it, I hope you and the team at Foodstuffs enjoyed that lovely cheese with a nice refreshing beverage on Friday.
Yesterday we enjoyed quite possibly the best Curried Sausages (a-la-Tim-o-Tei) we think we have ever had the delight to savour. Tim-O-Tei had made these as one of multiple passage dinners in his land-lubber kitchen and we were amazed how tasty fancy Toulouse Beef sausages are when expertly blended with a masala spice blend, and other delicious flavours, even banana featured! And it actually worked! Well done Tim-o-tei, Rach we think he?s a keeper! (BTW Rach, Tim-o-Tei said to say ?2RR: 1,2,1,NOT 8?. For all the randoms reading this, Tim & Rach have got a secret code language going so you are not suppose to understand that. Sasha reckons it might just be Tim relaying his bathroom habits though.. heh heh.
Last night, shifts started again with Tim, 7pm to 10pm, then Mike took over until 1am, then Sasha until 4am and then Tim-o-Tei was back on from 4am through to morning. It was a lovely night, and the boys first shifts were uneventful, as the touch-and-go light wind played with them and our sails. Tim-o-Tei spotted a container ship on his passage, but apart from that it was another quiet night at sea. When Sasha woke for her graveyard shift, she was greeted by a just boiled kettle (thanks Mike), so she brewed a cup of dilmar tea and headed for the helm, Mike had just finished setting the sails, and at that point we were sailing along nicely, Sasha sat on the helm seat, preparing to drink her tea and wake up a little - and that?s when the wind stopped. That?s right, it didn?t just die a little, it was dead. With the head sail limp (or as SeaForth puts it, a big white flappy thing) the boat slowed from 6-7 knots to 2, Sasha let out a little, tired ?aaah crap?, put her tea down and prep?d the sheet and the head sail winch to furl it away. Seconds later Mike turned up in the cockpit again after already heading down to bed, and helped Sasha furl away the sail, and re-set the main, then headed off back to bed (he?s a good lad that Capt?n Mike). Sasha settled in to the helm seat with her cuppa while the motor hummed away. It was to be 3 hours of motoring, while the boys slept, but it was no ordinary shift, it never is when you feel like the only person in the world, in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of the night.
After the tea had done its job, Sasha decided it was time for a spot of music, so the majority of her shift was spent enjoying a rave party for one - alt-J ?Every Other Freckle? was played about 15 times? new favourite song in Sasha?s books! It?s such a great song! After dancing, it was time to take a bit of a break and listen to a couple of pod casts, she listened to one cast from ?Ctrl Alt Delete? where Tom Chatfied author of 7 books (that Sasha has not read), discussed with the host about his most recently published book ?Critical Thinking?, they discussed the word ?expert? and how a LinkedIn search of the word ?expert? yields millions of hits, but that many self-proclaimed experts are not experts, which led them to discuss how to sniff out bullshit online. Then Sasha listened to one from ?The Slow Home? podcast, which is all about choosing to live slow in our fast world. The host was speaking with Rob Greenfield, who was introduced as an activist who does ?stunts? to bring awareness of things that humans need to know about so they make better decisions. One such stunt was him attaching to himself the average amount of rubbish a New Yorker creates in a month, then he walked around New York for a month with it on. Sasha pondered how people like Rob make their money, Rob?s life is made up of stunts that seem to yield no financial gain, and she always wonders how these types fund themselves, because no matter how alternative your lifestyle, you still need some money. He did mention a girlfriend who works, so maybe that?s it! ha! Rob had shared that 10 years ago he was a very different human, 21 years old with a goal to be a millionaire by 30, he spent hours each weekend cleaning his beloved brand new car, fuelling his ego with possessions. He spoke at length about going through a 6 year transformation, how there was no big catalyst for his ?change for good? - he just started with small changes that he could control, to be a better human and help the world. His first step? Buying a couple of reusable bags, so he never had to use a plastic bag again. It made Sasha ponder about success, and she netted out that success is being able to spend your time as you choose. That?s what everyone seems to be striving for.. hit the big one, get rich and then you can do what you like. I suppose the problem with that is; it could take your lifetime to ?hit it rich?. You could spend your life striving. But Rob seems to think there is another way, he thinks you can minimise how much it costs you to live. How much do you really need? Do you even know? Once you know what you really need, then you know how much you need to earn, and once you know that you can figure out ways to earn that much in the shortest amount of time, freeing up your time enabling you to choose how you want to spend it.
?That?s true success? Sasha thought a she watched her first ever moonset (that?s like a sunset but it?s the moon you are watching disappear). Mesmerised by the american cheddar orange moon on the horizon as it sunk beneath the ocean around 2:30am this morning.
Sasha woke at 9:45am, the boys had helped themselves to yoghurt, muesli and fresh apple slices. The evening before Sasha had realised she had not yet let Fiji know that SV MOONFISH was on the way, so Sasha set to work on the form (thank goodness she had last years on file!) because ya can?t just download that type of thing in the middle of the ocean. Sending the form was another (not so hilarious) drama, because the file was massive, and it took 3 long satellite phone calls to send the damn thing through. But we got our Fiji Customs confirmation email back, so we are all sorted (hopefully). We also emailed Denarau Marina and made a booking for a mooring ball, as we would ideally like to clear through customs there.
Oh thanks to Patricia, Dave and Mike again for your Gulf Harbour Radio morning sessions and the YIT website, we really appreciate all that you guys do. If you are cruiser and you use GHR and or YIT, make sure you send through your annual donation, every little bit helps, and if you are using their services it?s really rather cheeky not to donate something.
We?ll definitely be listening to Monday, we?re keen to hear how that front is moving and whether we?ve managed to get far enough north to miss the 30knot winds it?s going to bring. I?ll try to do a quick YIT update before 7am tomorrow so you know our exact position.
Well that?s all for now, signing off day two of passage, both boys are asleep, Sasha holding down the fort.
All well on board.

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