Sailing on Leap Frog
When we last left you one of our favoured crew members had been lost, and we were preparing ourselves for one of the most deceptively treacherous and savage regions we shall most likely encounter on our expedition.

The mighty broadwater has delivered to us some polar experiences. the mighty SV Leapfrog slipped silently betwix the becalmed banks of the peaceful stretch of water, lulling her crew into a dreamlike consciousness state where under the gaze of the moon and lite drizzle of life nectar the evening was spent. In anticipation of the importance of the next days navigational difficulty the great Captain Ahab once again bunkered earlier than the rest of the crew, this decision proved to be of great importance as if the captain had had less rest then a disaster more unimaginable may have occurred.

As the evening before had done the beauty of the Broadwater had all the crew of The Frog entranced, that was until a stretch was reached where the crew had been warned to be wary, the sky went dark, the surface of the water trembled and the captain quailed, the crew began to cry out in fear of unknown as somehow The Frog inexplicably mounted in pace massive eddies appeared and giant mountains of water sprung randomly from all quarters and in an instant all seemed lost for The Frog and her courageous crew as a deathly crunch was heard and felt throughout the bones of the ship and Leapfrog ground violently to a halt.

Shock, as quickly as it was upon the crew was replaced by dashing action; Captain Ahab handed the helm to Cloudbreaker and dashed for the life raft initially the crew observed this as being a Captain abandoning his post. It was quickly understood that it was not a display of cowardice but instead great courage, as they great power of the 4 hoarse powed Suzuki fired into action and Ahab motored abeam of The Frog he called to crewman Chong; Chongs lightning reactions to swing out on the boom topper and deliver it into Ahabs waiting grip was the only reason the mighty vessel is still afloat today, using all four mighty stallions, Turvey was able to keep a steady lean on its larger counterpart and coupled with the gutsy bowls of The Frogs own yanmah deeper waters were inevidably found.

The excitement of the crew was short lived however as the seductress of the Broad water was not finished with our heroic bunch. Ahab and Turvey surged ahead in an endeavour to mark a safe passage for The Frog with her deeper draught to follow. However in such torrential conditions which had set in the two vessels became separated and with nowhere to go but forward The Frog ventured cautiously on. Just as the two vessels were once again within sight of each other, again a most powerful squall ruptured the crews world. Whirl pools surrounded both boats and The Frog was once again stalled in her path. The crew and captain tried again to repeat their successful endeavours of the last times grounding, however this time the Broadwater sirens had completed their task and the SV Leapfrog was hard aground, sore sorry and soggy crew aboard her.

Full faith in the captain had been placed with the knowledge that he was surpassed by no other in the world when observing the movements of the tidal motions of the water, and once again in this case his interpretation of the tide times had indeed been correct. It was in fact the serendipitous chance that his knowledge of what date it in fact is, does not match his tide charting abilities. Somewhere since the undertaking of this voyage our courageous captain has misplaced exactly one week and had ordered the vessel to be skippered through such waters several hours before the more sensible times of high water! Saying that "had we been a week earlier navigation would have been fine" (Quote- The Captain)

This slight miscalculation was dually realised and although by this stage all on board had broken into the grog supplies in anticipation of an extended wait The Frog, in her own sublime manner swung tenderly on her anchor and was accordingly tended to by the crew and guided further down river, now bobing peacefully and sound in the blue of safe anchorage. Captain Ahab unconscious below, from excess or embarrassment or perhaps both. Either way little consolation for his missed opportunity, for just this afternoon this crew member witnessed the rare event of seeing a manatee or in nautical terms, the sea cow.
Could this be a prelude to the answer to Ahabs prayers? It is folk lore that the sea cow can often precede a sighting of the fabled Moby Dick. Return here to find out.

Until next time this is Cloudbreaker signing out.