South Pacific 23 April 2011, noon position, Tahiti Time 35S14 139W48
OK, so I’ve been properly called to the mat on my last message: misspelling ‘grammar’ (in the subject line no less), and on at least two occasions adding apostrophes to the plural form, where there should be none. I’m sure the list is longer, with structural issues, run-on sentences, split infinitives, prepositions before periods, inappropriate hyphenation, no punctuation where there should be some, and lots where there shouldn’t be any, et cetera. But, I challenge any of you (except Barry) to write a few simple paragraphs with no mistakes, on your dog watch, after 2 weeks at sea, never lying (or laying yourself) down horizontal for longer than 4 hours at a time (and those “sleep” blocks must be interrupted for a variety of reasons, that are not gentle on the sleeper), using your husband’s computer (not a mac), with it’s dictionary that does not recognize “Easter” as a word and it’s sticky keyboard, getting periodically sprayed in the face through the “water-tight” portal 6 inches away, moving hands from said keyboard periodically to both mop up the water before it drips on the computer, and to brace yourself as particularly large waves tilt your world beyond the angle of repose (or alternatively you could leave the hands at the keyboard and risk falling off the nav station seat, and onto the galley floor), climbing out into the cockpit every 15 minutes to check for boats that are never there, and trying to complete and post your grammatically correct message, without heaving, before your watch is over – see how your grammar holds up.
The irony is not lost on me that in responding to a grammar call with a poor excuse, I made additional simple errors, and am now making more, and lots more excuses. Guess I’ll be reviewing Strunk and White on my dog watch tonight. You’re all correct, as the resident teacher onboard, I should be setting a better example. The good news is the kids rarely read my posts (too long).
When Frank went to l’ecole maritime to get his captain’s license, for the final exam he had to do the navigation calculations at sea. Apparently lots of students who did fine in the classroom, could not perform the calculations underway. He did fine. If I’d had to do my structures exam at sea, I never would have gotten my architect’s license. That’s why he’s the captain, and I’m slaughtering English with my sea addled brain.
xoxomo
P.S. Frank did see a cargo this morning, first on AIS, then later a visual when it passed 2 miles behind us. In meters, it was 198L x 31W x 12D, according to the AIS stats, and riding low in the water. It was headed into the wind, and with the 4-5 meter swell, it had slowed to 9 knots. Frank could see the spray from the bow reaching the wheelhouse.
P.P.S. We’re all cracking up because a big wave just hit the side of the boat, and knocked Frank’s reading glasses off his face – he was standing inside. If he’d been outside, one more pair would be making their way to the bottom right now (5000m down).
P.P.P.S. The layers are flying off, and Kennan came out of his sleeping bag, not quite the tropics, but getting closer.