News Directly From Lee

Things on board Kwela are going well. It is apparently very cold at the moment where they are; and once again, there is not a lot of wind. They went from completing 140 miles for two consecutive days, to only doing 60 miles yesterday. Once again, they are down to spending a lot of time to manually steer the boat as the wind is not strong enough for “Bertie” the navigator to do his job properly.

These are excerpts from an email that Lee sent on Tuesday that I have just received.

Just a quick update, I cant type for long, as it makes me really giddy.Please don't lose sleep worrying about us my love. Trust that we are fine and in Gods hands.

PSN 41:38S59:30E
We have finally made 2000nm!!! Yay! We still have many more to go, but glad to have put some behind us. Sash and I have both been feeling awful today. I think it is the lack of sleep and a bit of angst that we had the last couple of nights. However we are hanging in there. There seems to be a new noise quite often on the boat which is obviously a concern always, but so far - so good. We are doing our best to fix what we can as we go along.As I said to you last night, everything on a boat seems to be extreme. You go from highs to lows but from one end to the other! No wind - to raging storms, warm days - to freezing cold, standing still - to being flung across the boat with the rocking, (last night a wave hit us from the side so hard it sent me crashing against the wall that I feel as if my femur is bruised let alone just my thigh! I actually cried it was so sore), and everything is a mission! From brushing your teeth to climbing into bed! Hopefully my core strength is improving daily! I am looking forward to a warm, quiet still bed and a hot bath!We have decided not to go to ST Paul. As much as we would love to see it, with the weather conditions we have had, the risk that it would add another 10 days onto our journey is too great. We thought to rather get to Adelaide sooner. I am pleased, as much as I would like to see St Paul, I think to press on would make more sense. I must just correct my error, Adelaide is not actually much closer in nautical miles than Hobart, because it is much further North than Hobart is. The reason Sash wants to go to Adelaide, is because she is not going to carry on to NZ on this trip - it is too much, so she wants to leave the boat and fetch it later in the year. Her dad lives in Adelaide, so it would be better for her to leave it there than Hobart as he can keep an eye on it...

I have a constant headache too... I think it is from the smell of this engine room right next to my bed all the time, and also a bit of the lack of sleep. We spend most of our time in bed because it is the smallest place to stop the rocking and the falling.We read a lot... We work watches, so in the off time, there is not much to do after chores are done, so we read or if possible - sleep. I have read 6 books so far and am now on Shantaram, it is beautifully written and I am enjoying it so far.
I cant believe we have been on this boat 23 days! I am not feeling depressed or cabin fevered yet, just a little frustrated at times with things, but nothing major. I think today has been mine and Sash's worst day so far, we are both feeling awful and strangely both of us were seasick last night. The thought of another 30-40 days of this is quite daunting, but I try not to think of it like that, I am just living every day in the moment and enjoying the time out from the rat race.
For interest sake, it you look at the stats on my blog, can you see how many hits I have had? Sash has had 8000 on hers (doubled since she began the trip)
Other than that, life carries on and the days are passing quite quickly. Please know that I love and treasure you with all that I am and am longing to see you!