As I have only been upstairs twice in the day time today as the large swell, squalls, boat tipping and waves coming over have proved too much, I will focus on the state of Starcross below.  There are 4 berths in the main cabin: 2 are normally part of the seating area and 2 are the 'cabin boy' bunks which are behind and above the others. One of the cabin boy bunks is a food and drink storage area.  In the aft cabin (way too hot) there are technically 3 berths, but one of these is also used for storage.  For the last 10 days we have had sheets over the mattresses as well as our own sleepng sheet-bags to prevent them from being damaged by sweat- nice!  You can probably imagine the state of the sheets now.  All berths have the essential lee cloths, which prevent one waking up on the floor - or on top of someone else.  The side to side motion means that the best way to sleep is to bring our knees up and wedge yourself between the side of the boat and the lee cloth.  The cabins are very hot due to most of the hatches remaining shut to prevent water getting in which is definately a priority.

 

The bathroom or 'heads' is actually ok to use, providing you remember to hold on.  One day we did have a scare that the pump was getting squeaky, and if it broke, a bucket wold be our back-up.  Thankfully that hasn't happened.  Of course, the other two very important areas are the chart table and the galley, on starboard and port respectively.

 

We each have a locker for our gear, but usually getting into it can be compared to one of those games where you shift squares one at a time to make a picture.  Hanging around the cabin are towels, drying clothes, hats, sleeping stuff, and now almost empty fruit 'hammocks'.

 

It takes twice as long to do anything due to the perpetual sideways forces, punctuated by load bangs, but with lots of time, many things can be achieved such as braised red cabbage with apple, making cups of tea and cleaning.  These activities, sleeping and talking about the wind take up most of the time, leaving some left to write the blog.

 

Tomorrow we look forward to making more good progress and hopefully experiencing less swell.

 

Ross, Al, Al, Paul, Will