Homeward bound
We finally got back underway again and on toward BIO. The weather was still rough but the closer we got to the east coast of Canada, the better conditions got. There were still storms . . . storms that on a normal cruise would have seemed terrible. However, after the weather we had been through, we hardly noticed.
We still had about a week to go and everyone was starting to feel the monotony and homesickness was setting in for most of us. As the weather got a bit better, and the seas went down, we came up with the idea of a ping-pong tournament. Now, this may seem like a strange thing to do on a ship that is still pitching and rolling quite a bit, but by this time we had all become accustomed to it. It is amazing how the body adjusts and automatically compensates for the motion. This happens to the point where it is almost done subconsciously, and one doesn't even think about it.
With about a week left in the trip, some of the more active members of the staff went around and generated lists of two teams. They then drew up a schedule where both scientific staff and ship's crew played ping-pong in the hanger deck over several days, finally ending up with one of the scientific staff and one of the ship's mates as the finalists. Given the boredom that had set in, this was the social event of the cruise. The final match was scheduled for an afternoon when as many of the ship's complement as possible could attend. As I think back, it was well organized and a lot of hype and fanfare was put into it. The person who was the chief organizer was Larry Bellefontaine, one of the scientific staff. Larry had, and still has today, the knack of motivating people and organizing events. This final match was no exception. We set it up like a heavyweight boxing match! There were a couple of days of pre-game hype, complete with interviews with the two finalists, Francis Jordan and Gary Saunders. Each played the part well, predicting wins by TKO or calling the round where they would end the match. We printed up programs for all in attendance and it really went off well. As the crowd of 30-40 people gathered in the hanger, Larry took on the role of MC and ring announcer. No sporting event of this magnitude could begin without the singing of our national anthem. Everyone stood at attention as "Oh Canada" was played. We even had a camera man (that would be me!) perched up above the hanger in on a shelf designed to hold some sort of equipment . . . I don't recall exactly what, but I do know that holding a video camera and taping over two hours of action on a rolling ship is a bit of a challenge. I still have that tape somewhere and one of these days I will dig it out and re-play it for those of us who are still interested.
In any event, between each rally, we had one of the ship's female crew act as "ring girl", carrying around a large sign indicating the round . . . it truly was like a boxing match. And it was war! Ping-pong is normally a gentle pastime. This one was brutal . . . there were no robins and roses! We had two rowdy camps cheering for their respective favourite and hissing and booing the opponent. After a hard fought battle and 12 rounds of non-stop action, the winner was declared. It was Gary Saunders, the ship's second mate, winning by a narrow margin. Prizes were awarded and accolades of praise were forthcoming from both camps . . . for after all, we were a team who had went through a terrible experience and the camaraderie that we had developed was the overriding factor.
Should you think something as simple as a ping-pong match would not generate much excitement, remember we all were confined to a ship of about 300 feet in length for almost two months. For a the last number of days, this was the most talked about event. We had to do something to pass the time. Without this, the last week would have seemed like a month.
Last updated on Thursday, 12 April 2007