drop in the ocean
Panatlantic
Fri 7 Dec 2007 16:44
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Greetings!
Right, it's now friday afternoon and i'm naked and
sweating in our coffin-like cabin, having just fixed our blog/email/sat phone
problems! Hoorah!
Right, so we finally set off on tuesday at 12 pm.
Tuesday morning was hectic, i had to run to the hospital to get a prescription
for more antibiotics plus we still had stuff to pack away on the
boat
James said his goodbyes to Jess and his dad,
something i was very glad to have done weeks ago, then, in a mad rush, we pushed
off to cheers and clapping from the small crowd that had assembled.
At 12pm Amanda sounded the fog horn and we were
off, cruising along with La Gomera to our starboard side. Within 2 hours James
was sick, he has suffered from nausea and vomiting from then right up until
today, a common by-product of being chucked around on the ocean! Luckily i'm
nails and haven't had any such problems!
That evening, with the notable exception of James
periodically throwing up and/or cramping up, was absolutely magical. We were
joined by a pod of pilot whales at sunset, and by dolphins at around 11pm, which
came to within touching distance of the boat, their presence making all the tiny
plankton glow luminescent. The phosphorescence was sensational, it almost
appears to reflect the stars in the sky, which are brighter than i have ever
known them.
Despite all this lovelyness, you have to get out of
our very cosy bed 3 times each to row for 2 hours, so it's not all
good!
And then the winds set in.
Since wednesday morning there has been a force 4
blowing, which has whipped the seas up mightily. We are being repeatedly
battered by waves of anythig up to 35ft, it really makes you seem very
small indeed! During the daylight hours this is all pretty manageable,
though it is rare that you ever get to put in a sequence of decent rowing
strokes, but at night it becomes all about trying to stay on course, and all
rowing goes out of the window!
Wednesday night was sufficiently calm to row
without too many problems, but it was getting really quite unnerving last night,
and at midnight i threw in the towel, we stuck a drogue off the
stern to keep our backs to the waves and we spooned for the subsequent 8 hours.
Prior to this James and i had been very worried by
the presence of another vessel, that kept on approaching. I got on the vhf bt no
reply; our radar reflector jobbie was bleeping away furiously and still no
reply and still it got closer. With James rowing like mad, i clambered past him
to get to the flares box and grab a collision avoidance flare. Before setting it
off i tried on the radio one more time and finally heard the reply: it was
one of the support vessels! "Kilkullen you bastards, you had us worried for a
while there. Over."
After taking several waves over the gunwales,
we packed up and clambered in to the cabin. Both of us felt the effect of the
depleted oxygen supply in here, which was quite strange; if we have to repeat
the proceedure we'll be careful to air the cabin every half hour or
so.
Today's been pretty rough, though James appears to
be coming through his sea sickness, hoorah! Let's see what the night has in
store for us!
Now for the questions you're all wanting to
ask:
Toilet: Bucket and chuck-it, aka Bog Yoga...! Once
or twice a day, no accidents so far!
Arses: In bits, we need a fresh water shower but
it's too rough to clean properly yet, here's hoping these winds lay off a little
earlier than expected (tuesday is the current forecast).
Onanism: Not on my watch at least!
Right all i shall leave you there, hopefully James
will be feeling well enough to write tomorrow, given any luck!
It is really rather special out here, although
conditions are tough we both feel highly privileged to be here, a tiny drop in
the ocean, miles away from land and doing what we can to thrive, not just
survive!!
This is Niall, over and out.
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