Whilst we three were out of the boat having a paddle, Slava and Ben had been setting off the Emergency Beacons. I failed to activate the one in the galley as we went over. To be honest and to my shame I simply forgot about it.
Pete and Ben Wookey are handing out the bright yellow survival suits that we 'borrowed' from the Matthew.
Slava upon seeing them being added to our kit in Bristol joked that we were off to the Southern Ocean. Ben Bones laughed, I laughed, we all bloody laughed.
Pete hands one to me and they begin to molest me into said suit. I'm dizzy. I'm cold and for the first time I realise that we are well and truly in the shit. I can't feel my feet or hands, this is not going to be easy. Pete was very firm.
'Thom! You've got to get in to this suit now!'
It took about twenty minutes to get into the suit, my hands and feet by this time were so floppy and numb, the 'shoes' of the garment so stiff and just too small for my size elevens that by the time I had managed to get suited up it was much darker. Without these two guys it wouldn't have happened. I am very grateful and always shall be.
Surveying the scene, my mind having decided to stick around is now tying itself in knots, trying to take it all in, to make sense of it all. Nothing here is as it should be. Nothing here is as one would want it to be. Nothing here is at all nice.
Ben Wookey, look at him. I hug him tightly. He looks so serious! Not that any one of us here is feeling too jovial at this particular juncture in time mind you. Could it be that I took the smile from his face simply by asking him along? I've never seen him not smile whether it be with his grin or his eyes. You know it's bad news the day Ben stops smiling. How he looks now, this must be fucking terrible...
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