day 115
Kia ora, Megan here! The continuous day of passage, where time is demarcated by naps and seems to loop rather than move forward. But I don’t mind this loop. Well, this morning I did, where stumbling about after a very wet 3-6am watch, I just wanted something, anything, to stay STILL for one blissful moment. More infuriating even than the impish scurrying (teehee) away of my utensils, my plates, my feet from under me, and the rest of the boat’s hardware into me… was the fact that I had to be bloody quiet the entire time. Shrieking vexation is generally discouraged during these wee hours in which everyone is desperately clinging to whatever sleep they can manage. But it certainly would have made me feel better. Of course after much muttering under my breath, when I had finally managed to cobble together a mug of coffee, I set it briefly on the counter before me and immediately had it thrown in my face. Coffee down my front, coffee all over the counter, coffee all over the floor. Thank goodness I take my coffee with a significant amount of cold water. I was not harmed; I did still cry. I like to think this is, at its core, a salty experience. So there’s that.
The rest of the day went significantly better. I had a nap, it was beautifully hot, and we’ve continued to have cookies every day, which I think is important for morale.
Miriam here, The liminality continues. I am perfecting my napping which feels like an important life skill. Treats definitely feel crucial for morale. Boobys circling around our vessel from time to time are a welcome captivation, witnessing the graceful swoop and dive of their investigations and their awkward almost landings on the solar panel. I saw a red tailed tropic bird this morning, the swoop of their brilliant red tail feathers a striking contrast to the white with black accents of the rest of their plumage. We are becoming the guardians of each other’s solitude, quietly navigating each other’s napping and introspections while also having sweet drop ins when the moment strikes. Eating all of the delicious tropical fruits before they go off is a fantastic luxury of these early days, pineapples and papayas and mangos and rose apples all gratefully devoured. After some light winds and big disorganised swells last night (which makes for some very swerve-y steering) we are in a steady 15 knot wind from the SE that has us sailing fairly true to course even in a comfortable rhythm that Wendy has been handling admirably. Thank goodness for the assist…while I am grateful to have had some solid practice that has me feeling more confident in my steering I am even more grateful to not be hand steering 6 hours a day for the next however long it takes to get to Fiji. 270 miles down, 1430 ish to go…
Jamie ere, we are starting to reap the benefits of the great grocery shop we did before leaving. Bikkies, salami, cheese, fruit all great morale boosters to counterbalance the sleep deficit. Thank you past us for having a big shop up. Finally Wendy seems to be working ok steadily while still wandering a bit, it seems acceptable. Megan sprung back and made a delicious vege pasta with garlic bread this evening, praise Zeus. Bluebird crew runs on carbs and carbs we have. Thank you to everyone (150+) who has commented, praised, applauded, donated towards word of the day. All funds go towards our crack team of erudite(!) wordsmiths and their Xmas party in Hamilton. The WOD executive team have some big announcements coming up so stay tuned… WOD: porpoise. Porpoise - one of those swimming mammals like a dolphin smaller than a whale bigger than a microwave (except small ones) U.I.a.senny: I set off for India in order to try and find my life’s porpoise.