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Brigadoon!

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ephidryn

Dec 01, 2007 23:55

Read 364 times, Dig?

11-11-7

I woke up early this morning and had to pee. The bathrooms are a ways away so I tried to ignore it. I finally got up around quarter to seven and walked around outside so that I wouldn't wake Mel.

We got some stuff from the bakery and watched the reef check video while Mel did the dishes. Melinda and I fixed the fresh water pump with Lily's help. After the hole was gone the pump needed to be primed by sucking water through it. We packed up stuff on deck, oiled the blocks, filled up at the fuel dock and got some fish and chips before we set sail.

On our way out we saw three penguins and discusses how the shifts work: 3 hour shifts at night and 4 hour shifts during the day. I had a nap during the arvo so Chris put me on the 12-3. I stuck on my ipod and smoked some cigarettes and stood in the cockpit balancing in the waves. Mel took over after recovering from her seasickness, kinda.

12-11-7
I woke up this morning to no alarm 5 minutes before I was sposed to be on watch. The sun was up and the sea was calm. The wind was strong and we were cruising. We had a chat about reefing the main and put up the mezzine. Chris is a patient teacher and relies mostly on you figuring shit out on your own. We had a debacle while reefing the main and so I learned to tie a new knot. The "sliphitch". I ate a ham sandwich and went down for a nap. I made dinner in the bucking galley: overly lemon chicken with soggy stirfried veggies and garlic mashies. My watch is up now and I think we're in a new time zone.

Our coordinates are 33 13.983 S by 173 34.456 E

We're sailing with just the jib right now after using all three of the sails today. I'll ask Chris why in the morning. ~6 knots. Second day off the sauce isn't as bad as barely smoking. I haven't dawned the nic patches yet but I don't think Ill have to as long as I can sneak a smoke at each watch. It is not forbidden to smoke aboard so much as I'd like to quit anyway. This is a good opportunity except for when I find my mind wandering during a lesson.

14-11-7
The water is getting warmer and the motion is becoming second nature.

Reading with my head down doesn't make me disoriented unless I change positions often.

15-11-7 04:49
30 28.805 S
173 35.623 E

Cleaned head + galley moved dinghy away from rudder pole.

Cooking in 3 meter swells fosters terrets in all of us. Sandwiches are where it's at. There was a huge albatross checking us out during the day. Flying really low on the water and setting down right by our stern.
814nm left to Vanuatu.
There's phosphorescents floating in the water like little upside down stars. Our wake agitates them and their fierce response is illumination. DON'T TOUCH!

The sun comes out in the morning. There's no people going to work. There's a notable lack of traffic. The few birds out here don't sing out the new day. The sun comes up and lights up the water. An endless rolling landscape of morpheus dunes. The day still happens. There's no plants or flowers to turn towards the sun. Theres's no people to wake or nocturnals to put to sleep but the sun does it's job anyways. It makes day.

I asked Chris if I could smoke a cigarette above deck on the lee side of the boat today. He said that I would owe him a beer for each cigarette I smoked. Man that guy is gonna be plowed once we get to Philippines. I asked if the secret ones which I smoke on my night watches count and he said he'd already been counting those.

15-11-7 18:43
29 54.129 S
173 08.557 E

I'm gutted! There's a hurricane a brewin just where we want to sail. A few days away from Vanuatu we're forced to turn around and head home. My mind is at peace while at a loss. Somehow I'm still hopeful that tomorrow morning we'll receive an updated forecast with no hurricane. It's November so yeah technically it's hurricane season but they never start til December except for that one in July...

16-11-7 22:27
31 57.718 S
173 36.831E
A day into our return and words have seldom turned to express our communal dismay at the situation. Instead of mulling on the hurricane which is now moving to occupy the airspace over our previous destination we discuss ideas and things in different places. I started and finished a book today. I buried my mind in some computer work. I didn't think about the over priced drinks in Vanuatu or the dangerous untouched cultures of Papa New Guinea. I definitely didn't paint full color mental pictures of small fishing villages packed onto even smaller islands in Philippines. :,(

18-11-7 02:59
34 43.555 S
174 04.995 E

The gale force winds which I have been avoiding for the last months on the Hobie 17 are propelling this multi-ton steel bitch home on it's final 26 nautical mile stretch. She's on full tilt crashing through the waves in the middle of the night and they put the novice at the helm. Shit's flapping and splashing and I got beck blaring above the roar of the wind. The stars are out in force. Everyone showed up.

21-11-7
35 13.699S
174 12.975E
We left Opua yesterday after we replaced half the plumbing on the boat. It was decided that the Philippines trip would not happen this season. Last night we stayed in Paradise Bay in Bay of Islands. It's beautiful here with shallow waters and little islands everywhere. On our way here I decided that my boat will be called "Devastation"

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This story was written by ephidryn and has been brought you you by the letters U and H.

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