Into the tropics
I was awoken this morning at 06.30 by the unmistakeable sound of the mast groaning in its heel. This sounded pretty ominous to me, and clearly to Otto, the Captain, aswell as he was inspecting it frantically. The rigging, however seemed fine and a quick chat with his rigger in Norway via satphone confirmed that things were alright. Visions of diverting to the Cape Verdes were banished and we plough on. We are now tenth in our class of 20, which is fine. I am glad that while we are running along nicely, we’re not racing and making lots of crazy sail changes in order to gain 0.1 of a knot of speed.
The weather has finally eased somewhat and suddenly it feels like we are in the tropics, or nearby at least. The water is no longer a deep, navy blue but is azure and beautiful. The air is balmy and there are flying fish jumping from wave to wave. Last night one jumped in to the cockpit during Ivory’s watch and nearly jumped through my cabin window in to bed with me before it was rescued by Richard. This would have been the most traumatic way to wake up imaginable.
Today we saw three Frigate birds swooping across the waves. I always remember being irritated by the writings of French sailor and aspiring Zen guru Bernard Moitessier. His endless ramblings about birds and fish he met on passage bored me to tears and brought me no closer to finding my inner chi that he had so smugly discovered. I’m feeling a bit closer to Bernard these days, as it was actually quite exciting to meet these three adventurous birds on a lonely stretch of ocean. I also sport a beard at present which the mystical Frenchman would heartily approve of. I’m not quite at the point of practicing yoga on the front deck yet though. That can wait.
Despite the calmer weather, we still have mountainous seas and Richard experienced them to their full while cooking a giant omlette, which decanted itself nicely down the back of the cooker. There must be a real Smorgasbord of delights back there by now. Apparently this word is redundant in Sweden these days. Well so Carl says anyway. Spirits have been buoyed by receiving an email from my parents today, so many thanks for that. Amazing that you can stay in touch while feeling totally alone and isolated on the ocean.
Other than that, Carl has fixed the GPS which is a plus, but the generator defeated us. It is situated in a deep lazarette at the stern and I was assigned to grovel about in here checking filters etc. While I was doing this, a huge sea came over the stern and I enjoyed an impromptu bath. I don’t feel any cleaner for it.
Sam