Day 7 and all is well. Calm sea, a warm sun and some wind but in the wrong direction, so motoring with a jib and a couple of staysails set. But today is not about sailing, its St Patricks day, so all watches are busy writing poems, and making a hat that has to have an Irish theme.
Word on the deck is that 2 of the other watches have a secret weapon. They have primary school teachers. How can we possibly compete, non of the forward starboard watch are trained in the use of paper, glue, sewing etc.
Now, if the competition was to land a plane then we would win that as we have a pilot in our ranks, but dexterity with sellotape and creative ideas is sadly lacking. The competition was set a few days ago, but we could not face being milliners.
But last night we concluded we could not let the side down so got together and made an amazing creation that would do us proud on ladies day at Ascot. Maybe we are a little deluded as the only materials we had was a towel and a T shirt, but a creation was born. The next problem was to find a model. We worked on the Cinderella principle, if the hat fits then your the one. In fairness I will not name our chosen model as they do want to return to normal life when we reach Southampton.The judging of hats and poems will take place this evening during StPatricks party.
We have no confidence with the hat but we have a very good poem written by Bill, our intrepid watchleader. But an enjoyable night is anticipated and hopefully nobody will suffer from drinking too much guinness.Karen, Forward Starboard watch