Day 15 Harold on the Blog
7Monday 9 December 2013
Harold on the helm of Adina
It’s Harold the much-loved mallard duck here doing a guest blog for Adina! I featured in a blog just the other day – for those of you who’ve forgotten, I belong to Neil’s wife Hallie. I’m crossing the Atlantic with Neil while Hallie looks after baby Amelie who will be meeting us in St.Lucia.
I thought I’d give you a walk through of crew onboard Adina.
Skippy checking the hull!
Skippy Tom is like the Daddy. He’s always reminding people of the proper order to do things in so as not to risk the crew blowing the boat up! He’s often sat studying the weather and working out the best way for us to go, reminding all to trim and steer. He loves to helm, especially when his baby, the parasailor, is up. Dab hand on the SSB radio talking to other boats and getting our emails in and out for us.
Then there’s Susie – by gum she just knows everything. We’d be lost without her. Need a needle or a drive belt, she knows where they are. Makes us food, mends boat parts too! Never sits still. I think I’m going to get her to build me a new duck house. And all done with a smile.
Gareth fresh from a swim in the Atlantic
Gareth sits there watching episode 24 of Breaking Bad just waiting to be called to fix something. If it’s got to be fixed, he’s there like a shot, his eyes light up and if it’s broke, he’ll fix it! The man makes Blue Peter look tame, never defeated. He’s in charge of our towable generator but the crew aren’t telling he got the wires the wrong way round yesterday. As I write he has a little fix-it challenge on his hands but that’s for tomorrow’s blog.
Lindsay is our other lady – full of bubbles and positive joy. She likes helming, focusing intently on the compass numbers, not to be distracted. That’s until dolphins are sighted and every boat on the Atlantic knows about it! She looks after the boys and is just as busy in the galley as she is on the helm keeping everyone full and happy.
And then there’s my Neil – he just loves the bow, up there in a shot when needed, no matter what, rain, shine or wet waves, hoisting and dropping the parasailor or rigging the preventer. Trims the boat to keep us going, and knocks up some mean dishes in the galley too. Hallie and Amelia would be damn proud. Then at night we snuggle up together and I make sure he gets a good night’s sleep ready for action the next day.
Swimming in the Atlantic Ocean!
As for yesterday, there was no wind, and we had to use our engine. The crazy crew stopped the boat and decided to go for a swim in the Atlantic. Have they not seen Jaws? No way was a plumb little Mallard Duck going into that big blue pond. They’re getting pretty desperate for fish – another reel out, another lure lost. Ducks like fish, I wish they would hurry up.
So it’s a long way to St.Lucia, but with this crew and with me as their lucky mascot, we’re going to make it just fine!
This is Harold the much-loved Mallard duck for Adina.
Harold!!! It was so so lovely to have a blog from you I found it lots and lots easier to read and understand. All about people and less about riggings and planks and peg legs (I may make some bits up in my head when I get befuddled…..) Anyway sorry we have been a bit quiet, mummy came home and we got a tree Harold, a TREE, it’s not dolphins but it’s pretty cool- I am loving the lights a LOT and I am very good at not pulling things off….except frosty the snowman with the gangly legs……I pull him off all the time…….
Daddy says that it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas for us but you are still toasty warm. That makes no sense.
Mummy says that she doesn’t think the people who use their motors all the time get to be in the race anymore but she can’t quite figure it out. Is that true? Not that racing matters but we do like our facts!
Ok bedtime now but I hope your dinner is yummy and I will write again tomorrow.
Love Barnaby xxxxx
Ps Harold you forgot the quiz question!!!!
Pps daddy says hello, he would say more but he just got some photos of me framed for mummy (only took him 8 months) and he is preoccupied with how cute my face is.
Ppps Harold do not go swimming, Hallie will be very sad if you get munched my a shark.
Hi Harold and all Adina crew,
Glad to hear that you have the crew under your wing,Harold,though I can’t imagine how Hallie is coping without both of her boys.Just to let all you olive oil fans on board know that we have bagged 403kgs of olives so far and it looks like we’ll make at least 500kgs.That’s an awful lot of olives to pick by hand!Any crew passing by Bolton or southern Spain are welcome to come and sample the 2013 vintage.
Hope you catch some fish soon.
P.S. Neil, go easy on the oil.I want to see how far round the world it can get.
Hi Harold, Just a quick warning, the 40th party should be quite soon. If you can help someone catch a few fish quickly that would be really smart. Not just because you like fish, but the big worry is that if the crew are facing Spam for the party, the thought of roast mallard could be overpowering. Look after yourself and take flight home to Hallie if you feel threatened, I know that you could make it if needed….
On reflection I am sure that you are safe to stay and do the job that Hallie and Amelia gave you, to look after Neil and the crew of Adina
Hi Harold, Lins and crew I hope you took it in turns to swim and didn’t leave Harold on board on his own for too long! Jxx
I’m catching up on the blog tonight, and so happy to hear that Harold is doing well (and the rest of you too, of course). I’m also happy to report that Hallie and Amelia are tip top – I had the honor of seeing both of them today! Harold, you should be glad that you’re sailing instead of with Hallie/Amelia, as my mean dog stole Amelia’s flat duck and chewed it up! So glad that was not your fate, Harold, and also happy that there is a back-up flat duck!!
Hoping for good winds and a smooth sail for you tomorrow,
Kristy-Bo
Harold, I think that you had better take over the fishing duties on board Adina – I’ve been reading the Millport II blog which is written by 10 year old Ted and he claims that his Mum has asked him to stop fishing until all the meat on the boat is gone because it will otherwise go bad. It would appear that Ted is catching TOO MANY FISH!!
HARRRRRROOOOOOOOLD!!! Soooo good to hear from you! Glad you are well! Amelia and I miss you terribly but are so glad they are taking care of you out there! We are prepping ourselves stateside to rendezvous with you in the Carribean. Getting together all of the parts for Adina and all of Amelia’s stuff is quite a challenge, but luckily we have lots of help. Looking forward to seeing you all in St Lucia – we will scope it out for you.