TROUBLE BREWING WITH THE CREW...

Now there is George, did I say he was a great guy??!!   Man is this bloke getting on my nerves already!  Now I’m very easy going and not much bothers me (except airports!) but George is about 1 step away from getting an ass whooping.  I have let a lot slide, I’m a peacekeeper, I can put up with a lot of shit if it means getting to Tonga and Fiji etc, but he is really testing me.

I have already been informed by him of my ‘drinking problem’, this guy has NEVER had a drink in his life and thinks me having a beer (1 beer, sometimes 2) most evening’s is a dependency!  I read a book everyday too George, no comment on that?  Not from Mr Negativity!  I surely couldn’t just be having one because I’m a grown man who enjoys a cold beer!

 Unsure how he feels qualified to comment on such matters anyway?! Getting boozing advice from somebody who has never tasted the cold frosty goodness of a well earned beer is like taking acting lessons from Paris Hilton!  I have never plucked an Emu, so I would hardly go around dishing advice out to others on how to go about it!

He was very casual about telling me also, he has turned out to be a negative, condescending tosser who thinks he is above me.  Told me his last skipper was an alcoholic, used to have 3 whiskies a night!!  Oh well, at least I can finally seek the help I need thanks to the intervention of a self absorbed, judgemental prick.

There are many other little things that he casually does or says that irritate the shit out of me, if he is so unwilling to adapt or accept other people and different lifestyles, perhaps he should have stayed on land.  He will ask me for fishing advice and then brush anything I tell him aside, pretty much tells me I don’t know what I’m talking about?! 

That would be like Jean-Paul trying to teach me to sail and me telling him ‘yeah whatever mate, I reckon I know better than you’.  Up to him, there will be no further advice forthcoming.  Oh and for the record, he has caught ZERO fish!!  But he once caught a Mahi Mahi on another yacht and it is all I hear about when I talk fishing!  He thinks because he happened to have a 200lb handline dragging behind a yacht that just happened to run right over the top of a good fish, that he is somehow an expert on them now.

 I will give precise, specific, detailed information on techniques, location, depths, species etc and reasons why we may or not get a strike at certain times or conditions, he always replies with ‘Oh, no, I think we might catch a Mahi Mahi here, I caught one near Galapagos Islands once'!  An expert on them apparently!  Technically yes he’s right there very possibly could be a Mahi Mahi out here or any other pelagic, I just love the fact that catching one has made him a guru! 

George looked at my tuna after I filleted it yesterday, ‘hmmph, that’s not much fish’, then whinged about my tuna pasta, ‘hmmph, I think you cooked too much’.  After 2 excellent meals I prepared yesterday he serves up lunch today consisting of a bowl of lettuce and a bowl of carrot?!  Then wants to tell me how I should do my shashimi!! What a joke!  Always questioning everything I do and disregarding my input, bear in mind, this guy is just another crew member like me.

 While we were doing the shopping he wanted to know which bread will last the longest, so I tell him. (I was a baker for 8 years and he knows this, but no, my word isn’t good enough, he then goes and asks the lady stocking the shelves with canned goods, which one is better?!  FFS this guy is a wanker like that.  Yes small things, but many, many small things add up to big things when you are never more than 8 feet away from each other and it is pretty much constant. 

Normally I would just ignore somebody like this and not let it bother me in the slightest, but we have to live together very closely and depend on each other for the next 3 months.  I can’t just ignore him…  can I??!!

George decided he was going to organize the watch roster, and funnily enough, he gets the 7-11 (am & pm) time slots, giving him the great luxury of getting an uninterrupted night’s sleep from 11pm through til daylight.  How convenient for you George, the centre of your own universe!  Also coincides nicely with meal times too so the first hour of his shift he gets to sit inside and socialize with us.

  Things like this just continue to amaze and amuse me, until I remember that I am stuck with him, and that it’s illegal to throw him overboard, plus I would have to wash more dishes…   hmmmm…  not a bad trade off…?!   Hehe   It’s only out of respect for Jean-Paul that I have not seriously brought George into line yet. Yet.  Will see what transpires between here and Tonga!  Hell, we may even end up as best buddies…..   (not likely!)

These are just a couple of examples of the shit he comes up with, never has a good word to say about me, but does it all with an arrogant smile like he is so much smarter than everybody, yes I know I am whinging now, but writing it is my only outlet.  If and when this comes to the surface, one of us will not be continuing the voyage.  As much I would like to tell him to shut the f#@* up and adjust his attitude, I am too much of an appeaser, the peacekeeper, the cool head..  for now!  It would be funny if I wasn’t stuck on a boat with him for 3 months!!

Ok, rant over! 

Aside from all that which I needed to vent, everything is else is awesome, I love being out on the ocean and this is no exception.  Sure it can get slightly boring, but only briefly, there is always something to do.  I have a good exercise regime already and plenty of books, plus with a lure out constantly, there is always a chance my rod may double over and my reel start zinging at any minute.

On another amazing note, we may be stopping at Minerva Reef along the way, a tiny, isolated coral atoll that lies about 200 miles south of Tonga on our route, a fishing mecca that any serious fisherman would love to have a crack at.  Fingers crossed!  It is now 3pm, time to go start my watch.  George is having his afternoon nap, maybe didn’t get enough sleep last night with his easy shift, meanwhile I have had about an hour’s sleep….   Grrrr!