Author: helen

Deck kill! Every morning there’s dead flying fish and squids lying around the deck. At dawn, Steve and sometimes John makes a deck sweep and throws them all back into the sea. This is usually before I wake up but I do see the evidence of kill from the fish scales spluttered all about and the general stink. Not only are the flying fish on the deck but in the cockpit and even inside the boat. The other night, when I went to wake John up to take over watch, I was overwhelmed by the reek that came from around his cabin and bathroom. I thought at first he really must take more showers and clean his head better but John also noticed the smell and soon discovered a rotting flying fish near his cabin door. The fish must have flapped itself inside through the opened back door and down the steps. All we have to do now is follow our nose and scale trails to find fish that have managed to slip inside.

Every evening after dinner, we discuss strategies for the night watch. At what wind speed do we reef the main and head sails. Under what condition do we go off course and sail with the wind. When do we start or stop the regeneration. When do we switch off the cross charger. When and who do we wake up when we need help.
Recently the conditions have been pretty constant so the outlines have been an iteration of previous nights. Fortunately there’s been no incidents since the out haul snapped during Steve’s shift a few nights ago.

Watches have really become watches. We barely need to trim the sails and the auto pilot or wind vane does all the steering. We watch the instruments, we watch the sea, we watch the sky, we watch the sails. We sit there and watch the time and miles go by.

Let the boat be still! This continuous rocking and swaying is beginning to get to me. Its fine when I’m up on the helm enjoying the ride and watching the waves, but trying to get anything done inside is almost impossible. Moving around the boat, keeping your balance is a bit like dancing. One step forward, two quick step back, one to the left, five hurtling step forward as the boat plunges down a swell. One step back, two steps to the left, cha cha chah, cha cha chaaaaaaah…
John doesn’t seem to mind the movement. It’s beginning to effect Steve a little bit though. We discussed what we would prefer. A few days of calmer, slower sailing or arriving at landfall earlier. John and Steve chose landfall early. I want both!

A big milestone today. We crossed the half way mark. Steve wanted chicken curry to help celebrate so that’s what we had for dinner. I was originally going to cook fish, thinking that if I use up the last of our fish, we might catch more! After dinner, I dug up some English chocolate which I’d kept hidden from the boys. Their faces lit up as if it was Christmas when I brought it out. Thanks Ella for the chocs.

The actual milestone occurred about 10:45 pm. Steve will probably explain how he worked out our mid point and all other facts in his blog. The important thing is that when the number of miles we ‘d done matched the number of miles we have left to do, we cracked open a bottle of bubbly. This is the first drop of alcohol we’ve had since leaving the Galapagos. After consuming our glass of wine, Steve and John went to bed and I started my night shift. Passing the half way mark was a real mental boost and I felt quite high and happy. I think the glass of wine helped too.

No milestones.
No events.
No visitors.
NO FISH!

The only thing John and Steve have caught is a cold.

Haven’t been able to read or stay on the computer for very long. The swells and winds have been quite high today making the dipping, rising and crashing over the waves very pronounced. I’ve been borrowing Steve’s MP3 and listening to music rather than reading. It’s nice to block out most of the continuous roar and banging of the waves with soothing music.

My night shift was a bit wild. The wind picked up and the swells increased to about ten to twelve feet. The moonlight lit up the wall of sea rising and falling behind me as we glided over the swells. Standing at the helm with the wind whipping around me I listened to my player. The music and elemental forces around me was like some madness. I found myself shrieking like a Banshee and dancing and whirling around like a Dervish. Am I going insane!

I look like a battered wife. All this rocking and rolling has led to numerous close encounters with tables, cupboards, seats, doors, bars and more. My thighs, hip and upper arms are covered in bruises. It reminds me of when Steve and I use to do karate. We use to practice on each other and unsurprisingly I would end up black and blue. Nowadays we fight verbally but I still blame him for my bruises. It was his idea to go sailing!

Day eight is another mile stone for me. Its the longest time I’ve been out at sea. This trip so far has been mentally and physically more challenging than any other. The eight day crossing from Costa Rica to the Galapagos was more like a childs ride at a funfair. The ocean was so flat and the wind so weak that we glided sedately over the water. This trip is more like a roller coaster ride. Lots of wind, swells, thrills, anxiety and exhilaration. Oh yes, and bruises.

Steve made us practice hand steering with only the compass today. He decided that if we lost power and all our instruments stopped working, we should still know how to steer to course. Well I’ve never really steered with a compass before. Previously I always had land marks to know which direction to point to. Out here in the middle of the ocean east,west, north and south looks the same. Anyway I found it much harder than I expected. The way the compass turns is not intuitive. If I want to head west, I have to turn the wheel towards the way east is showing on the compass. This completely does my head in. Its like steering with a tiller, you point away from the direction you want to turn. I’ve been known to go round and round in the dingy until I’ve worked out which way I have to point the tiller. Somehow Steve feels I need a lot more practice with my compass steering skill.

We saw a very large pod of dolphins. They didn’t come to visit and play with us. They were hunting. We saw a number of large fish jumping out of the water and spinning in the air like they were panicking and trying to escape. It was interesting to see the dolphins speed through the water. Many of them seem to form groups of three. Whether this is significant I don’t know. Another item on my list to look up when we get connected to the internet.

No fish today. Not even one that got away.

Variety is the spice of life. Well there’s not much variety in our daily routine at moment. We do our watch, we sleep, we read, we eat and if we feel like it, we find a little chore to do. The scenery is much the same. Water water everywhere. The boys spend a lot of time staring out at their fishing line with hope and longing.

So to spice up each day with something varied, I cook up a different meal each evening. I rotate rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and noodle dishes. This is mix and match with either chicken, beef, fish and occasional pork. Sometimes we have none meat days and use eggs, cheese or beans as the main protein dish. Dishes range from stews, curries, chilis, sauces, stir fries, homemade pizzas, omelets etc.
Curries are always a favourite but I try not to cook it more than twice a week as I do not want to run out of spices too soon.

As you must have worked out, I’m the main cook while Steve and John takes turn as bus boy or washer upper. Being cook is probably the one job that keeps me the most busy. Not only do I prepare and cook each evening. I have to keep an constant eye on our provision. Every other day I have to inspect our fresh food, fruit and vegetable and turn them over to reduce rotting. Now that the fresh foods are beginning to run out I have to start growing my sprouts so that we have some form of fresh vegetable. We’re also on our last loaf of bought bread so soon its back to making our own bread each morning. An effort but smells and tastes delicious.

My night shift was a little more challenging. The wind shifted and to my delight we were down wind sailing, my preferred tack. As always, when I get what I want I discover a problem. The problem with down wind sailing is that you really have to keep and eye on how the wind shifts behind you. If the wind shifts suddenly to the other side it can cause the main sail to jibe. In quite strong wind the sudden swing of the sail and boom to the other side, can severely damage the mast and boat. After spending some time nervously and continuously looking at the wind instruments and adjusting our bearing I decided to put the boat on automatic wind vane. This keeps the boat at a constant angle to the wind so I set the angle wide enough not to jibe. There is a consequence to this. I now had no real control over keeping to our track. The wind would take us where the wind went. Fortunately and to John’s great relief when he took over watch, we were only a few feet off course.

Oh yes, a new record, we’ve done more than a thousand nautical miles.