Rats and Homeless

I had a bonus conversation with Lee last night as she had forgotten what day it was and when she was supposed to phone. It was good to hear her voice and she sounded fairly well.

New from the yacht is once again not good with mother nature turning on them and deciding to take away the wind. The result of all these windless days is the following:
1. The crossing was planned to take 55 – 60 days with them reaching St Paul or Ille de Amsterdam at around day 20, sleeping there for 2 days and then sailing on for the remainder of the distance.
2. The adventure has now entered day 29 and St Paul is still a good distance away.
3. The “supposed to be” dog tired adventurers have had so many still days that they don’t need to stop for sleep anywhere as the weather has given them enough days to catch up on any missed sleep.
4. They are further south than they originally planned; firstly to find the wind and secondly to decrease the distance that has to be covered; so sailing to St Paul would result in a route change.
5. At the current speed and conditions, they calculated that they will be arriving in Adelaide in another 52 days – right on the border of their food rations. Doubt this will be a problem as they are not eating a lot due to second round of seasickness a few days ago. This once again played havoc with the taste buds and their culinary wants.
6. Water is scarce but they have it under control and it does not seem to be the incredible worry that it was a while ago. They have stopped washing with fresh water completely and a wash now consists of a pot of hot sea water.

Lee says that it is currently very VERY cold and they are spending as much time as possible in their bunk space. Lee has named hers the “hidey hole” because if you can’t see her, that’s where she will be. It’s the place that the warmest on these freezing cold days that they are experiencing; its where she can catch up on her much needed sleep; it’s a little bit of comfort (soft mattress) on a yacht that seems determined to ensure that both of them hit every part of their body against every part of its structure; it’s where they are thrown around the least when the sea is rough as there is not much space to travel in those little areas that they have to crawl into and they are able to pad it up with cushions and pillows.

Lee was laughing as she relayed the story to me that she feels like a rat and a homeless person / tramp all in one. Exactly like a rat, because she crawls out of her hidey hole to fulfill whatever task needs to be completed and then dashes back at the first need for comfort or sign of danger. Like a tramp, because she feels dirty and wants to shower and put on clean clothes and wash her face and those things are luxuries that are just not available. She said you know it’s bad when you smell yourself and your nose starts revolting against the body that is hosting it.

So to end it all, yesterday was spent rushing out of the hidey hole to put Bertie (the automatic navigator) back on track as the wind was not strong enough to help him do it on his own (all you ladies out there are most probably saying that if that navigator was a woman, things would be very different – hey???) and then rushing back into the bunk to get warm. They managed to sail a grand total of 40 miles yesterday (140 the day before and almost the same on the previous day); and they once again facing the fact that they will be bobbing around and being mid ocean company for migrating birds for the next day or two.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and I look forward to updating you on Monday.