A day in the life...

Calypso's Web Diary
Joe Drury
Wed 8 Jun 2011 09:31
Hello all,
 
A day in the life of a single-hander...
 
5am, as dawn breaks, check the course and speed, bleary-eyed get into harness and trim the sails, shake the reefs out. Cast an eye over the foredeck and check for breakages. Gulp a load of water down. Go back to bed.
 
6am, Go for a pee.
 
7am, Get up, get dressed, change underwear (if needed..!) Cup of teeeaaa!
 
8am, Write in ship's log. Start engine, monitor volts and power usage, turn off non-essential daytime kit, Radar, Lights, etc.
 
9am, Engine off, and like home on a day off - an episode of Frasier. Cook breakfast, today was a ham and cheese toastie with coffee and a smoke. Clean galley as I've usually not cleaned it from the evening meal... More sail trim.
 
10am, Go above decks and have a good breathe of fresh air and scan the horizon. I never see anything. Tidy cockpit ropes and re-trim sails. Today at least, heard yacht "Relief" hailing and had a nice chat with him, he's going faster than me, why???
 
11am, Check emails. Write blog. Agonise about my position and standing in the race. Retrim sails again! Worry about speed and course.
 
12:00, Read for a bit. Have a bit of a tidy up. Cup of tea. Talk to myself for a bit, perhaps have a sing song. Every other day take a call from Alex at home.
 
1pm, It's pretty boring, this. I'll bet you stopped reading around 10am.
 
2pm, Consider an afternoon nap. Have a good look out (nothing seen) and turn the radar on, set the alarm and curl up in the bunk that has the least amount of seawater dripping on it.
 
3pm, Realise that I'm not going to get any sleep, get up again. Consider lunch. Usually something light, soup or a sandwich, fruit and nuts. Another cup of tea. Radar off, engine on for another hour to charge.
 
4pm, Read for a bit more. Trim again, fix stuff about the boat.
 
5pm, Write in the log a bit more. Arrange wet clothes and blankets in the dry areas of the boat. Try to sleep again.
 
6pm, Have another lookout on deck, worry about approaching weather. Seems to get a bit squally around the evening out here so put a reef in the main and trim the genoa down.
 
7pm, Have a cup of tea and a smoke.
 
8pm, Have another cup of tea and a smoke.
 
8:30, Tea, something stodgy or starchy, stew and potatoes or pasta and veg. consider doing the washing up. fail at this.
 
9pm, One last check above deck and retrim. Radar, alarms and lights on. Settle down with a blanket at the chart table and watch a film or documentary. Lately I've been watching episodes of "Human Planet" which is great. whiles away a nervous hour.
 
10pm, Read for a bit, get comfy, check wind and sails. Have a snack, usually chocolate or a new discovery, custard crumble puds. mmm! 
 
11pm, Worry about whether that noise you heard was a whale, sneaking about under the boat, ready to casually bash into me with disasterous consequences. Control heart rate, try to wind down and nap.
 
12am, Log entry for the day, miles covered, miles to go, average speed for the day. Last cigarette and a horlicks or chocolate.
 
1am, Finally sleep. Not for long, wind will invariably shift or increase, back in my clothes, jacket, harness, up on deck just as the wind goes back to how it was. back below and undress and into bed. Something always starts clanking above deck now, try to ignore, fail, back into clothes and up on deck.
 
2am. See 1am.
 
3am, See 2am.
 
4am, blissful 20 minutes sleep, awoke by dawn, aaaand start all over again. Remind me why I'm alone out here again?
 
x