Dutch Christmas on board Maverick Dream

"Five pounds sterling to the first man who spots a sail," Barry threw down the challenge to Tom early yesterday morning. All day the two men scanned the horizon, but nothing was seen. Only the flying fish, which we have taken to calling "Flish", occasionally interrupted the calm waters. Barry blamed Tom's failing eyesight and old age, while Tom helpfully reminded his senior friend to take his pills. The fact remained that we were in a section of water all our own, and would stay that way for some time. Later, Cap'n Mark decided to fire up one of our diesel engines and let it push us along for a while. The engine charged the batteries, heated the water, and gave us a little distance on a day with nearly no wind.

As the day slowly went amber and turned to evening, it was Louis who first spotted the sail. The £5 pound bounty was abandoned with a compromise agreement that Barry would buy Tom a sandwich and beer at Gatwick on their return home.

On our starboard side, another catamaran had appeared. It was the Wakamizu. We had spoken with their Japanese crew in Las Palmas before setting sail. The Wakamizu was moving southwest at 210 degrees, and crossed about 100 meters in front of our bow. Mark spoke with the captain over VHF radio. They were following what little wind there was and would cut sharply westward on the latitude of St. Lucia. They were running a dark boat; only the instruments and a bow and stern light were using battery power. Their generator was not working, so a single engine ran in neutral in order to charge the batteries. As the Wakamizu passed, Tom and I watched it from the helm. The sun was nearly gone, and the sky glowed rose and yellow as their sail and a single twinkle of light continued away from us and toward the horizon again. The similarities and contrasts were striking. On a giant, empty stretch of ocean, two boats crossed paths. Each boat had twin hulls, white fiberglass bodies, and small crews. One sailed southward with a muted and dark interior. The other hummed, fully lit, with fajitas being prepared in the galley and Happy Feet blaring over the interior speakers and showing on the DVD. I felt as though our deck looked like the Las Vegas Strip, with a chorus line of high-kicking ladies across the bow, slot machines and lounge singers across the port side, and an oom-pah band in the dinghy.

Today is December 5th; the day all the children in the Netherlands awake to find their wooden shoes filled with presents from St. Nick. Since two of our five man crew are former children of Holland, we have tried to maintain the St. Nick Day tradition as much as possible. Having no clogs onboard, we had to improvise a bit. We set a pair of flip flops upon the deck. At first, we thought that the good saint had passed us by. While no gifts were found, we did discover the plastic container that served as our cookie jar had been surreptitiously knocked over in the night. Maybe it was the wind from last night's squall, or perhaps St. Nick had indeed stopped by, but doesn't favor stale Fig Newtons and mini-choco-chip cookies. Nonetheless, Barry whipped up a yellow cake with chocolate frosting.





We ate it after lunch as our own small salute to the saint and in honor of two of Holland's finest exports, Tom and Louis. Suddenly, as if called forth by our gesture, before our very eyes, from out of nowhere, with a grand entrance, the great saint appeared before us!








He brought greetings to all, clarified a few facts that we had somewhat misconstrued, and gave us all gifts of chocolate. Then, in a flash, before we were even sure he was here, he was gone. Tom was in the head and missed the whole thing. If you are unfamiliar with the tradition of St. Nick's Day, the crew of the Maverick Dream highly recommend the briefing on the subject in Esquire magazine, under the title, "Six to Eight Black Men", by David Sedaris. I would hot link it for you, but I am on a boat, hoisting sails and such. Surely it would not be too much trouble for you to, you know, find it on Amazon or Google it or something. I mean, come on. You're already reading this when you should probably be doing something important. Take a moment.

We all received the best gift we could have gotten, as winds have returned to the trades and we are flying the main and the genoa sails and pointing directly at our destination. In 24 hours, the waves have gone from nil to four and five meters high. We are riding high and somewhat dry. The fresh fruit is no longer that, and we are choking down as much as possible to avoid chucking it overboard in the coming hours. Our capable chef compulsively counts and recounts our stock of food and water, and we have every confidence that he will find a way to make tinned and frozen foods downright tasty over the final week. Ever since the waves have gone directly behind us, my outlook has brightened markedly. As long as I don't spend too much time indoors, my stomach is happy to be a sailor.





Another little ditty for your delectation:

Five guys in a boat, all from different nations
fishing outside when most would have stayed in
Five guys in a boat, with no confrontations
most likely down to the lack of fair maidens

and a message from our Dutch correspondent:

Tijdens een, helaas, kort telefoontje met Annemieke werd me duidelijk dat er veel reacties zijn gegeven in het gastenboek van de website van www.maverickdream.com waarvoor onze hartelijke dank.

Helaas kunnen we website aan boord niet bekijken zodat we geen reacties kunnen geven. Zo gauw we aankomen en een internet verbinding hebben dan zullen we dat alsnog doen.

Alle communicatie met de rest van de wereld verloopt via 2 punten t.w. de Worldcruising organisatie die onze weblog bekijkt en die weersberichten en standen terug stuurt. Daarnaast wordt de website door de moeder van Mark aangepast met onze berichten. Als je deze verstuurt naar hun is vaak al een kwartier van de 20 minuten tijd, die via sataliettelefoon beschikbaar is, voorbij.

Heb nog even geduld.

Gisteren voor het eerst in enige dagen weer contact gehad met een andere deelnemer aan de Rally. Ook een Lagoon passeerde ons met een veel zuidelijker koers. Hier zaten Japanners aan boord die we hebben verteld dat we tussen de middag sushi hadden gegeten met verse Tonijn. Tevens verteld dat we er 2 hadden gevangen en er een, helaas wegens ruimte gebrek, weer hebben teruggegeven aan de zee. Je kunt je voorstellen wat de Japanners hiervan vonden.

De wind was zeer matig de afgelopen nacht waardoor we maar af en toe hebben op de motor hebben gevaren.

Nu is de wind weer 15 tot 20 knopen en gaan we weer volop vooruit naar het einddoel.

Tot morgen





cheers from the stuffed to the gills crew on Maverick Dream