Mid-Atlantic Fancy dress party Well what a magnificent party and what a superb turnout. 2009 will be remembered as the best Mid Atlantic fancy dress party ever and in the social diaries as THE place to see and be seen. Severance crew were busy all day yesterday preparing for the event. Fairy lights were wound all the way up to the top of the mast, job expertly done by the YMC who now enjoys his little trips up the mast in his little bosuns chair. More fairy lights were strung all along the port and starboard sides of the boat and the dazzling disco ball was hung from the ceiling of the salon below deck. So busy were the crew with boat preparations that they had little time or use for showers or shower buddies so it was a quick spray of the air freshener each and costumes were donned. We did Severance proud. We arrived as a coal miner, a caterpillar, Ellen McArthur and a sheep, simply amazing. And two of the hardest working individuals on the boat in recent times showed their other talents last night and deserve a mention too. Mr. Yanmar who had to be cajoled back to work the night before proved to be not only the best engine in the world but also the best shaker and maker of cocktails in the North Atlantic. And as for Charlie Farley, the auto pilot, he kept mixing the music all night to keep all ages and nationalities happy. We had forgotten that the clocks went forward an hour so our first guests arrived as we were getting in a little practice on the dance floor but the cruise ship guests didn't mind being early they just jumped aboard and joined in the jiving and jigging going on on the foredeck. They were a great bunch. Mostly pensioners who could really let their hair down and some honeymooner couples. There were quite a few Elvis lookalikes and cowboys and girls.....maybe something to do with the cruise ship originating in the US. And maybe they weren't all in fancy dress. Then a stink pot (motor yacht) arrived. Some old rich Russian codger with a bevy of blonds in tow. He was whinging about the champagne being warm but when we told him we didn't have a freezer on board to keep our one bottle of Brut chilled he very generously brought us quite a few bottles of the finest bubbly from his stocks. It was a BYOB party after all but we were willing to share.We were wondering what the blondes were before they came in fancy dress. Lanky KGB agents perhaps???? We had a few other rufty tutfy sailors like ourselves cruise over for a boggie on the dance floor. Our David got lost among that group for a while as they thought he was Captian Birds Eye. Meanwhile our cabin boy was happily chatting to the Russian entourage and the other group of dolly birds who arrived in bunny rabbit outfits. Cute costumes but 20 in the same fancy dress. Really girls, originality please. Their captain, Jeff or something like that, was a wrinkly old bugger but managed to have a bevy of beauties as crew....how do they do it???? The passengers on the next stink pot were a little strange. Well, not so strange. They were very handsome men actually, particularly the ones from Barcelona. The ones from Manchester were a motley crew. Personally I don't think most of them were from there at all, not listening to the accents anyway. But their story was a bit odd. They said they were in training for some big game at the end of the month. What, chess,? ping pong? But they weren't giving the game away. Well I didn't believe a word of it. I think the Manchester lads were on some kind of school reunion with their old headmaster who they still called Sir. Come on lads, yer not school boys anymore. His name is Al not Sir. And as for the Barcelona boys, I think they were on a golf outing or stag outing but they all got doubled booked on the same Sunsail charter but how they ended up in the mid Atlantic is anyones guess. And now they've decided to follow the two other stink pots around the Atlantic for a bit of bird spotting. They may be heading to the Azores too so if they are indeed playing a game....of golf I think, sure we'll see them there. A dear old duchess from the cruise ship took a bit of a shine to our YMC . They were last seen doing the hokey pokey on the poop deck. David extracted himself from the fancy dress pirates and sailors and was doing 'Rock the boat' with the bunnys on the foredeck dance floor. Cabin boy was on the missi ng list so no one is sure if it was the rum punches or the KGB that got him. However he was found snoring away in his cabin alongside the Master snorer at noon today. I was chatting to Jeff/Reff, whatever his name is, to see about getting measured up for a bunny rabbit crew outfit...well, I need a summer job. There will be a bit of a clean up sometime later today and a bit of a post mortem when all crew are present and correct. The debris will be swept overboard, on making sure than no bodies lie within. Half empty bottles and indeed full bottles will be kept under salvage rights and will go to replenish Severances depleted stores. Although Severance has a policy of no shoes on deck a few stilettos found their way on to the dance floor early this morning so the polyfiller will be out to fill in the holes. We think we might leave the fairy lights up for a little while. On second thoughts we won't have enough battery power for that but we might get to keep the disco ball twirling in the salon. We have added all the guests to our events list and they will all be invited to the next Severance bash, whatever and whenever that will be. HELLO magazine has been in contact already looking for exclusive rights to the next party. The crew will have to discuss their principles on the matter, 'Can we be bought and for how much?'

Pictures to follow........................ Aisling

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