the deck of death...

I was on my 12 till 3am watch, again! Nothing much was happening as the foresail (yip) had slipped down the mast and deemed useless. So we were motoring in an alternative to going up the mast to fix it. When you're motoring the only real job is to play look-out every 10 mins. So I was chilling at the helm, being hypnotised by the phosphuresence in our wake which rivals any night sky, when out of the corner of my eye I saw something small moving rather rapidly towards me. I turned at the last minute only to recieve a big wet slimmy slap on the cheek. Obviously a bit flussered and confused, my arms went up and fists drawn looking for the guilty one, in order to pay him his dues. It was pitch black and there was no-one in sight. About a minute after this, still in a slight daze, I recieved another blow from behind, this one I took to the arm. The salty smell of fish was then my first clue as the second flying fish danced around on the deck looking for the ocean it had left behind. Now I don't think it was a personal vendebtor these two kamokazi youngesters had for me, but I put it down to the bright light of my head torch drawning them in like moth to a flame. So the lesson of the day is, don't wear any bright lights while walking around the "deck of death" and always blame it on the fish.