There was a good question from the last post...
From Margaret: why would it not be easier to do the transfers of fuel and packages while the ships are still ?
Answer: The thing about water is that it is always moving, and thus the ships on it are never still. With the exception of the rare days with no wind and seas, we're always being moved by the wind, the waves and/or the current. Because the ships are so different in size and shape, we don't move at the same rate and if we stopped our engines, we'd be pushed in different directions at different rates, increasing the change of collision or breaking something. The navigational challenge that would come from trying to bring the ships together hull-to-hull, which is the only way to ensure that becalmed ships move together, would be immense and take twice the time that our mobile replenishments take. By having both ships moving together at a speed that reduces the impact of environmental influences, it becomes a much safer evolution. If the winds or seas were so high the we couldn't overcome thier affect, then we'd cancel the replenishment.
Sometimes the environmental influences are bigger than other days. For the replenishment we conducted this morning (my photos of that remain on the camera card due to other tasks through the day) the weather was much improved and we didn't see this kind of wave. It made for a nice, close approach and a spectacular break away, which are the best kind, of course.
As for the mail, it was mostly books from Amazon, a new pair of Vibram Five Fingers because the original ones I bought last year are not holding up well to the salt water that gets splashed on them (though oddly, the rubber on the bottom is completely unfazed by the non-skid coating onthe decks - it's the toe stitching that's coming apart) and yes, two skeins of sock yarn from The Loopy Ewe. I bought a purple and gray thinking I'd try my hand at the Sanquhar Socks in the lovely book Wendy sent me, but the purple isn't dark enough to do what I wanted - so those will be used for something else. It was kind of wishful thinking anyway, I still haven't even reached the halfway mark of the scarf I started months ago, and that's just feather and fan. The socks will have to wait for my return.