Circe - The Accidental Acrobat

The Accidental Acrobat

My boating experience to date has been limited to the occasional windward island charter and 5 summers on Circe in Scandinavia and the Baltic. This is my first transoceanic passage and as such, it held a great deal of unknowns for me. But the greatest surprise of the passage was also the least expected.

I have never experienced the power of such a large body of water on what surely is a small boat compared to an ocean’s immensity. I read the WRI weather reports each day but have learned to focus mostly on the size and interval of the swells as well as the direction from which they’ll be coming. Why, someone with two feet planted on tierra firma might ask? Because I need to know just how much Circe is going to be tossing me to and fro within the confines of her hull.

I used to consider myself somewhat graceful, but these last 11 days on board I’ve been downright ungainly in my acrobatic movement around the boat. This choreography between my arms and legs and the handholds, bars and everything fastened down as I move to the lifts, the falls, the jerks and the sways of Circe is the most surprising aspect of the voyage thus far. I simply did not expect it to be so difficult, and at times, treacherous, to perform the simple task of walking. Trust me when I say it is physically demanding to keep yourself free from injury. We weren’t all so lucky.

At times I’ve felt like a pinball as I bounced and rolled the length of the boat, ricocheting off the port and starboard cabinetry. At times I have stumbled and caught must just short of slamming into something of firmer mass than me. At times I have felt as if I were a trapeze artist swinging from one handhold to the next. And then there are the times I’ve given up and taken to my bed only to be tumbled from one side to the other as Circe rolled violently. Yes, even sitting on a bed is a balancing act.

On November 30th the arrival of the forecasted swells of 10 - 13 feet coincided with a failed staysail furling motor. If I thought it difficult to maneuver below deck, it was doubly so on the deck as the handholds are reduced to halyards and stays, yet the boat still lurches and lunges in her own aquatic acrobats.

Although I’ve tried to find the rythym between the waves and the swells and Circe’s response to them, I still misstep. And I have the bruises to show for these mistimed steps .

In the coming days the swells are predicted to reduce in size, but by then I hope to have perfected my acrobatic routine of moving about Circe with a minimum of difficulty. I have learned to recognize the momentary lull in the cycle and wait for that moment to make serious maneuvers.

Yes, the waters are predicted to calm and the bruises will heal. Now the question becomes whether or not my former grace returns to me once my feet are back on solid ground.