day 117 water water everywhere
Kia ora, Megan here! It’s becoming harder to remember what I have done each day, and what counts as “today.” One thing we definitely did today was take salt water baths, which entails sitting in the cockpit, wrangling a bucket of water out of the ocean without losing the bucket-on-a-rope (which snaps back with surprising force once it starts filling), and alternating between scrubbing of soap and dumping of water. Naomi was the first to take a bath and set off a chain reaction, until we resembled a veritable fantastical bathhouse - a bevy of sirens riding the waves. Have you seen that siren scene in O Brother Where Art Thou? This is what I choose to believe we looked like. Anyway I somehow thought it was also a good idea to wash my hair with soap again, despite what I learned last time, and this I blame on Naomi because she did it first. I feel significantly cleaner overall but my hair is so waxy I fear it might melt on a hot enough day.
I think Bluebird must have been jealous of all our bathing, even though she received a thorough deck scrubbing of her own not 2 days ago from Miriam and Jamie, because as of writing the blog we’ve managed to soak a large part of our interior, including my duvet and bedsheets, the portside sofa, and a large number of Miriam’s things. Big waves and big wind today - I oscillate with increasing speed behind the wheel between thinking I am a master wave rider and thinking oh my god what am I doing? Sailing a boat?? Who allowed this??? Time to go curl up under the American airline blanket Ellen and Qwalen left. Pō mārie!
Naomi here, The swamp is back, it feels a bit unfair, we are going downwind how is it so swampy. But then I remember we are Almost breaking speed records- Altho I would like to remind you no one has yet beaten my record of 16.6 knots- and I guess that’s the price we pay. The faster you go, the wetter the swamp as they say. The feeling when bluebird lifts up her skirts and goes tearing down the face of the wave, it’s like she’s floating and you can hear her humming. Hitting high numbers on the Speedo is very cool but I also very much enjoy trying to keep it in the 10s for as long as possible, staying on the swell and keeping the momentum going. It’s very exhilarating, altho I must admit it’s not the most soothing speed for sleeping, I find myself tensing my tummy and clenching my jaw in bed a bit . Feels good tho to make the most of the wind while it’s here!
Miriam: An exhilarating day indeed. It’s wild to me to consider that the speed we are going, say 6-16 knots, would be an abysmally slow 6-16 mph on land in a car, and yet on Bluebird once we get to 9 knots or so it feels like we are hurtling along at a breakneck pace while those 14+ knot moments feel like a roller coaster, such a thrilling ride as Bluebird surfs the swell like she’s flying. My morning watch started with a proper squall which gave half of my body a good fresh water rinse. I hit 14.6 knots surfing one wave and exclaimed my delight aloud; luckily everyone was awake already. I have gotten very good at wedging myself into my bed so I don’t get tossed out in the night and indeed wedging myself into all sorts of places to cook, do dishes, etc… without being thrown around too much. The constant adjustment to the movement feels like it must be good core exercise. At least that’s my excuse for my continuing nap marathons. And I suppose the 6 hours a day hand steering in 20+ knot winds is a good excuse too…Wendy is not so keen on the higher wind speeds. And so we go, speeding into the night…
Jamie right here, shelling was once an activity enjoyed by all. I thought it might be nice to recreate a bit of a shell finding exploration within our 40ft of BB. I thought I’d make a treasure hunt complete with witty clues and shells with a treat at the end but keep it a surprise until it was all set up. I mentioned to Naomi that I was planning a fun surprise for everyone and she immediately said treasure hunt! Unbelievable. Way to ruin a family surprise. The clues are done tomorrow the hunt will begin. I struck 16knots on the speedo today which was pretty cool and I yelled a lot. Everyone came up and watched the numbers soar. Although not Naomi’s record beater it’s a solid effort. WOD: sluice. Sluice - maybe a separation technique to seperate liquid from matrix. Used in a senny : there is a sluice of mango for you on the bench.
FYI the WOD team has found precious little time to brainstorm WODs given current travelling schedules. There have been rumours, whispers that some barrel scraping is occurring and quality has dropped somewhat Recently. The team would like to assure fans that we are working extra hard in this climate to make some headway in the vigorous and cut throat competitive industry of word based email subscription segments.