A bugger of a day really, getting nowhere not especially fast. Very little wind at all, + what there was kept swirling around. Still, it did give Doug the chance to fix the fastening of the sheet to the jib. It had been coming loose, + worrying him. We’re about 200 miles out from Rarotonga, which shouldn’t take too long to cover… once the wind picks up. Been out nearly a week now, + no regrets at all. Doug is fulfilling our expectations of what a captain should be. He’s generous + undemanding, + has a good sense of humour (tho’ one does hear the same little funny sayings repeated pretty often. No 1 in a regular series of Dougisms – when he hands you a beer he says, “Try that for your bad cough”.) Naturally enough, we had a splendid dinner – a beef curry cooked by Val. A good job it was a hot one, because the night was bloody cold. Fortunately, Doug dug out a blanket apiece for us. Oh, I played Doug at chess just before dinner. Not a spectacularly good game, with too many silly mistakes, but I enjoyed it greatly nonetheless. I also won, which helps. At least we got a bit of sunshine.
Very little to add. We are very positive about our captain, and I beat him at chess. So, two good things.
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