The score

7:44 AM 9/20/2005 - Tuesday
We've been rolling around a little overnight. The door to our stateroom wasn't closed completely, so it's been softly slamming every minute or less. I finally got up to close it, and now am up. I've gotten a lot of sleep yesterday, with the Dramamine knocking me out cold for three hours or so.

Yesterday, we must have played 4 games of scrabble, and --surprisingly-- no backgammon. The scoring is taking place under the pseudonyms which are becoming a little more commonly used. At least it's easier to differentiate "Antonio" from Cyrus than "Celso" from "Cyrus"... Whenever we're on the radio, and a call comes in for me, the name usually uttered first is Cyrus. After no response, an additional, corrected call, comes in for Me. We have several celebrity mags on board, and peruse them for stories on each other.

Recap of names:
Bill Springer -Harrison Ford
Celso Reyes - Antonio Banderas
Guy Tytgat - Steve Martin
Jessica Larson - Demi Moore (pronounced Deh-MI')
John Paskievitch - George Clooney (called Clooney, so as to not to confuse with the Skipper)
Michelle Coombs - Sandra Bullock
Tina Neal- Holly Hunter

When playing scrabble with this rabble, you've got to really keep a close eye on Clooney—I won't say publiclyhat he cheats, but -- at the minimum-- he tries to get by with 40% bluffing. Sandy is a word-master.

Some observations about the helicopter operations. I pretty much have been taking the helicopter for granted. No longer am I oohing and ahhing about working with the helicopter like I did in Okmok. However, when you think about it, it is still intense: flying from a bobbing ship.

Every time the helicopter lands onboard, Anthony has to rush out and attach a ratchet-strap-ring to the helicopter's hook. Josh, then cranks down on it to secure it to the boat. Whenever the helicopter takes off, it has to be just about ready to launch before Bill releases the hook.

When airlifting stuff off of the boat, Anthony gets under the helicopter *as it is hovering* and attaches the load underneath it: there is no room for the helicopter to land with the load also on the landing pad. And when the helicopter is swing loading stuff TO the ship, well... There's wind; the ship is bobbing, and there's not an insignificant mast not terribly far from the helipad. When the load is finally dropped on board, then people scramble to secure it before it slides off the helipad.

On land, these operations are much simpler. the helicopter would land near the load, and then the cable would be attached. Dropping the load involves only adjusting for the wind.

I'm still having trouble with working the silly door on the helicopter. It always takes me a while to get the thing shut.