Slipping silently over the surface

Came on watch at midnight to find it was a clear, cloudless night with no moon and no phosphorescence in our bow wave.
Steering for an hour and being in no hurry to be relieved at the end of it, by Linda who is on it now, tonight is one of those special ones when you feel you could just go on and on.
We are slipping silently over the surface of a quiet, rolling ocean at 5.5 knots and laying our course for Montevideo, which will come only too soon, as I will then have to leave this crew of kind, gentle and generous friends who are just such great fun to sail with.
Overhead, the night sky is displayed in all its true glory. A heavens full of stars, planets and a long stripe of the milky way over your left shoulder, as we steer NW towards Uruguay.
Having a star to steer by is so much easier than working from the red, illuminated, ever changing dial of the electronic compass, but you do have to remember that as time passes, nothing stays in one place for very long.
During my trick at the wheel I watched the constellation Orion, which down here appears upside down, do a graceful sideways slide into Argentina, somewhere over the horizon on our port bow.
Now its not so cold, these night watches under gentle conditions are a special pure delight.
By the time ours is finished 04.00 hrs it will be just beginning to become daylight and everything will change. Special times.
Bill.

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