Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
I awoke with a start. Paula was shaking me lightly and offering me a cup of something hot.
The boat was still, and the silence was rather unusual. I swung out of my bunk, where I
had fallen into a deep sleep and peered out of the porthole. The sun shone with a friendly
warmth; the ocean was calm, and the wind had died out completely. Paula was smiling her
brilliant smile again, “Want some coffee then?” she asked, in her pleasant, English voice.
She was a pretty lass, with thick, long, dark hair, almost bushy in texture and large black,
Moorish eyes set deep under striking, black eyebrows. Her complexion had an oily sheen to
it; her slender figure and healthy bust exuded sexuality. She had a dimple on her chin which
I found wildly sexy, and her full pouting lips displayed her even white teeth delightfully.
In all honesty, I had fallen in love with her the moment she had walked into my workshop
one blustery afternoon. She had bowled me over with her thick, Yorkshire accent, and her
intelligence was evident without her uttering a sentence.
I took the cup gratefully and smiled. Her hair was tousled, and her clothes were rumpled.
I looked down at my own clothes and knew I too must look a sight. She followed me up
the steps and out into the sun. Land was nowhere in sight; the boat was stationary save for
the odd heaving up and down as a wave passed under her keel. The sails hung loosely, like
limp washing in the sun. The boom slatted uselessly from side to side; I went forward and
secured the sails and boom. I looked about for any signs of life and saw only the dots of
sea birds perched upon the oily water.
I threw off my clothing and dived into the water. Splashing about noisily, I invited her
in. The water was cold and bracing. She shook her head smiling. After a few minutes, I
clambered up the bowsprit and slopped my way aft to the cockpit. Paula turned away mod-
estly, as I swung down to retrieve a towel. “You'll get used to it,” I said grinning at her.
“There's nowhere to hide!”
Herman was sleeping below and spent a large part of the day asleep in his bunk. Indeed,
it was to be seen that he was very hard to wake up and would sleep through a great deal
of noise and commotion. He was a handsome boy, almost pretty in a way with large, pale
blue eyes and a shock of flaxen hair. He was a sensitive and deep boy and thought a lot. He
was remarkably intelligent and would constantly ask me about navigation or how certain
things worked on the boat. He was also very polite, which I found refreshing, and it was a
reflection of his German upbringing as well as the expensive private school he had just left
a year early, with the understanding that after his adventure he would return and complete
his final year. He was a favorite amongst the girls.
Later, after we had eaten, I went to my chart and tried to deduce our position. I read the knot
meter with its attached propeller and string trailing aft and recorded the sea miles traveled.
I knew basically which direction we had traveled and with my dividers, I measured off the
