Karyn up the mast - again!
Oldnick
Wed 8 Jan 2003 16:19
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I don't think I mentioned earlier on the leg to Rio
that Karyn had to go up the mast to collect the spinnaker halyard after the
spinnaker head ring broke? Well, just after leaving Rio at 2300 she was up there
again clearing the main halyard from the radar reflector (in the dark on a
sloppy sea). She just loves it up there!
After our little halyard problem we spent the next
3 days heading south in slight but confused seas. It took the three of us a
little longer to find our sea legs again after such a memorable stay onshore. We
were all feeling a little iffy and weren't inclined to cook much either so there
was a lot of fresh food going slowly to waste. Day four brought westerly winds
and sunshine though so we all immediately perked up and I went down below
to cook up a traditional english fry-up - lovely!
Day five has been more of the same and Koopy (our
weather routeing specialist in California) assures us it will remain westerly
winds for the next 5 days at least. He does say that there is a front coming
through on Friday that will give us 30-35 knots but this shouldn't last longer
than 12-18 hours before returning to a perfect 15-20 knots. Our position today
(Jan 8) at midday was 30 degrees 25 minutes South, 35 degrees 46 minutes West.
We are making about 150 miles per day and are on course to pass just north of
the island Tristan da Cunha.
In this beautiful weather with the self-steering
doing all the work there is plenty of time to read and relax. I just finished a
book that the Stokie's gave us called "The Water in Between" by Kevin
Patterson about a landlubber that decided to buy a boat and head off, and
there is a particular passage in it that explains the appeal of long distance
passage-making quite well (I know a lot of you think it mad to sit on a boat for
24 days on end with nothing to do...Steve Shine??). I'll quote some relevant
bits from this particular passage.
"Langour is underrated. It is not
possible to be immobile in modern urban society except by dint of constant
effort. Holding on tightly to the riverbank and fighting the current is not
langour. Nobody likes that. But bone-lazy idleness, hours and hours spent
staring at the sky and remembering books and birthdays and great kisses: this is
a pure pleasure that eludes the productive in all their confident superiority.
Langour is sunny and hot. It is at home near the sea and is best appreciated in
environments of beauty and limited promise. It contains within it the idea of
boredom, but is also couloured by idlle fancy, and the understanding that some
things proceed best with limited attention........You can't be hiding or feeling
guilty and be languid at the same time. Long sea passages have the attributes of
being both profoundly idle and providing the illusion that something is still
being done......A principle pleasure of making long ocean passages lies here, in
the opportunity and the mental inclination to be able to just read and read,
without guilt or distraction or lingering anxiety that something is not being
tended to. A glance at the sails and compass establishes that all that can be
done is being done."
So there you have it! It's being able to be bone
lazy yet in the back of your mind feel like you are doing something! Of course
this does gloss over the issue of gales, rain, engines that won't start,
alternators packing up etc etc, but in perfect downwind conditions like we are
having now with all the onboard gear working as designed (especially the
self-steering) I think he explains the appeal quite well. Any takers for
the Cape Town to Perth leg - just jokin!
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