Cruising Kitty Awarded Elite Honours

Yesterday evening in a small private ceremony held in the ceremonial gardens of Buckingham Palace, our own Cruising Kitty was awarded the St Bastet Medal of Honour for contributions to the art and sport of sailing, presented by the spectacular Dee Cafari in a lime green ensemble with feather hat.

After Ms. Cafari placed the medal around his neck, the Cruising Kitty bowed regally and nodded as the assembled crowd cheered wildly. 

The Princess Catherine and that other guy just helicoptered in from Wales were in attendance; the Princess wearing a svelte little number in turquoise with matching feather hat and brooch.

After the ceremony, the Cruising Kitty was heard to say humbly… from beneath his own trembling feather hat: ‘ ‘Twas but nothing. Just happy to help the sport in any way I can.’

Then he launched himself off of the marquee entrance awning to dive magestically into Dee’s shopping bag as she left the palace premises heading towards the stables or wherever it is that royal guests leave to/from.

–Captain Cat

(transcribed in utter disbelief by the Can Opener)

* The medal is made of gold. On the obverse is an image of Britannia surrounded by the motto, with the words “For Meritorious Service” at the bottom; on the reverse is a dancing salmon, with the words “Smoked salmon – as tasty as fresh”. The name of the recipient is engraved on the rim.

ps. April Fool!

Passage Treats

Celebrating Passage Milestones

We are looking forward to the upcoming Spain-Greece yacht delivery. Time to plan for success!

Three weeks is great, it’ll be a chance to really get a feel for long passages. It’s also a looooong time for a small group of people to be in constant contact with each other in a constricted space.

So the Cruising Kitty is planning ahead with crew building treats and activities.

I’ve been researching online, on sailing forums and putting my thinking cap on (the one with the feathers). 

Here are the highlights of my favourite ideas so far…

Treats 

• ‘weekly snack bag’* – filled with junk food, candy, savory treats, catnip, etc for the week… for indulging as needed
• drinks or a meal from the cuisine of an upcoming destination 
• balloons, (reusable) streamers and silly hats for celebration meals (see below)
• chocolate always
• cookie mixes*
• cake mixes
• jerk beef, chorizo and sausage sticks
• cheese and crackers

Activities

• cocktail hour – team drinks (which may or may not be alcoholic). One hour each day when the whole crew is together. Even a two-person crew may not see much of each other when running watches. A cruising tradition
• tea hour – a non-alcoholic version of the above
  

• water guns*
• magnetic travel games*
• peg board games*
• temporary tattoos*
• nautical crosswords – still looking for adult level examples of this
• movie night with popcorn
• theme music day* – 50’s, Beachboys/Beach Music, Mariachi, Polka, James Bond theme songs — with coordinating accessories: eg Beachboys with Hawaiian leis, Mariachi with maracas, Polka with polka dots (the Captain’s personal favourite)…
• silly hat day
• holiday celebration meals – any events happening during your passage? Birthdays? Half-Birthdays? Boat anniversary? Valentine’s Day? April Fools Day?
• milestone meals

Timing

• daily for ‘cocktail hour’ 
• weekly for special treats and activities – probably best brought out on the same day each week at cocktail hour
• milestones – holidays, mid-trip and end-of-trip for special meals

‘Course not every crew is going to go wild for the same treats and activities, every group being different and all. But I hope to build up a time tested bank of ‘passage treat’ ideas to draw on. I’ll be testing and having the Can Opener taking my notes as we go.

What passage treats have you tried? Or what great ones have you heard of? How’d it go?

We’re looking for suggestions – the wackier and more creative, the better!

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

* Special thanks for these great suggestions to ‘The Cruising Couple’, ‘Ex-Calif’ and ‘drew23’ on Cruisers Forum

Team Building

Next: Delivery Crew Team Building