Our course was roughly 135 degrees with a long haul out of sight of land from the water's surface. If someone went up the mast then maybe they would see the mainland for much longer. But sending someone up the mast on a Bosons' chair was not easy out at sea and certainly not pleasant.
The boat had lots of wizardry on board, GPS twice, Electronic charts and Autopilot. It had a super 4 cylinder diesel engine and a smaller but adequate diesel generator, enough to make cooking and lighting easy and comfortable. It ran a large chest freezer and a fridge and also a small but very useful fresh water maker. This turned sea water into fresh water, enough to use for drinking but not for any other purpose.
The first day at sea went well enough with Guy making a shrimp and crab salad for lunch. He told me he was doing the perishables first while they were nice and fresh and then the more boring stuff later. I suggested that we tidy the whole boat, it wasn't filthy but it wasn't in tip-top condition and I wanted to sail into Hamilton Harbour gleaming and pristine.
About 2 in the afternoon the satellite phone rang and I went into the chart position to take the call.
"Hi Sir Frank, yes ....., yes....., yes all's fine here maybe another 2.5 days for Bermuda."
He was checking that we had actually started and wanted some idea of our progress. He made it clear to me that he really wasn't checking up on me, it was just that he liked to keep up to speed with what was happening.
"Ok, yes .... no problem. Thank you for asking, ..... I will, bye bye."
I put the phone carefully back on its charging station, which had a spring clip to hold it firm while the boat rolled and twisted.
"Ok listen up, Sir Frank sends his best wishes to us all and his message is 'be careful' as he always says."
The message was met with smiles and Sheila seemed to get a new lease of life scrubbing away at the fore deck. She was trying to get something off the deck and I went forward to take a look.
"That's a natural stain in the Teak plank, " I said as she started to scrub even harder "leave it and treat it with that rubbing oil when it dries out."
"Ok" she replied and gave me a cheery smile.
The others were all busy with Dave at the helm and Lisa polishing the stanchions. I went down to the chart table and got out the ships logbook. I filled out the morning entry with all the usual stuff, course, sea state, wind and anything noted as I saw it. I didn't like the "chatty" style of Logbook, I liked the simple straight workmanlike style. I was fiddling with the seat height twisting and spinning it until suddenly the seat dropped about a foot and I fell backwards onto the companionway.
I picked myself up, feeling foolish and stupid all at the same time. The seat was a single pedestal type and the rise and fall lever was stiff and unused. I searched in the chart table cupboard for some light machine oil but couldn't find any.
"Interesting position," said Guy cheekily " Can I give you a hand?"
"Erm, no thanks. Have you seen a small squeezy can of oil?"
"I have one in my toilet bag." he answered.
"Guy, I am talking machine oil, not baby oil!"
"Sorry," he responded "there's one in the tool rack near the engine though, shall I get it for you?"
"Yes please."
He came back and handed me the oil and I lubricated the handle and I looked whether or not I should also do the seat stem while I was here, 'Oh why not!' I said to myself and squirted some on the stem.
I moved the lever and the seat pulled up higher. I swung the seat round and sat on it with my feet on the step ring, it almost immediately sunk to the very bottom of its travel. I pulled the lever again and stood up and the seat rose to its full height. Sitting down again the seat sunk to the lowest position.
"Damn, damn, damn," I said " I shouldn't have oiled the stem."
"Nope you shouldnt," said Guy " just the lever."
"Ok ok. " I said, waving my hand at him to go away.