Preparing to fiddle

29th June, 13:10 ships time

There are two distinct bonuses from having a musician as one of the crew. Firstly, when there are the three of us on watch, we can talk about music; or two talk and one mostly listens. Secondly, there is the priviledge of listening to a professional prepare a new instrument, in this case a fiddle, to suit their particular style of playing. The fiddle was purchased from a junk shop in Exeter from a batch of bankrupt stock, new and a bargain but still a cheap instrument. An emery board is used to gently sand the bridge to find the right profile. Gradually it sounds better and better until the boat is filled with the joyous sound of a fiddle tune. We look forward to more music once we reach port in Poland.