Day 5 - Sailing Fast
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Fri 14 Mar 2008 19:32
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05:43.345S 101:49.375W
We are merrily sailing along at 9 knots with the
southeast trade winds we discovered yesterday. As a result, we are now
pointed directly toward our destination and have started to think about when we
might actually arrive there. Our original estimate was that the trip would
take us 21 days, with an ETA of 3/30. However, if the winds hold up like
they are now, it's possible we will arrive in as little as 18 days, which would
make our ETA 3/27. Either way, it's still a long time from now, so we
continue to adjust to life at sea.
Now that we have wind, we also have waves, which
means more boat motion. So far we haven't had any bouts with
seasickness (I think it's true what they say about sea legs - we both seem to
have a good pair), but navigating around a moving boat requires a certain amount
of skill. For example, when walking from the chart table area through the
sea berth area back to the main cabin, it's not possible to simply
walk. Instead, you have to do kind of a hand over hand, walk when you can,
boat dance. If you make the mistake of letting go of one handhold before
you've secured a new one, a new bruise will be added to your
collection.
Cooking while rocking along at 9 knots requires an
even finer honed boat dance skill. This one involves the use of the 'wide
stance' in conjunction with the 'butt balancer'. The trick is to position
yourself in the narrow galley so that the stove, refrigerator, food cabinet,
trash bin, utensils and pans are all within reach without having to move your
feet. This is the beauty of a boat galley - they are usually small enough
so that positioning yourself in such a way is actually possible.
Once the perfect position has been identified and taken up, the feet must be
placed as far apart as possible so that balance can be maintained. Now,
the key ingredient, the butt balancer. Once in position with feet well
apart, lean the butt back such that it is firmly lodged against the nearest
countertop. Note that this does not work well if the butt is firmly lodged
against a hot stove. As a side note, the wide stance butt balancer also
works well when brushing (and flossing!) your teeth in the
bathroom.
Ok, now what you've all been waiting
for:
Marquesas Semi-Useless Factoid #4:
The Marquesas group of islands is the most
northerly territory of French Polynesia and consists of six large and six small
islands - all of volcanic origin except for one.
This basically means that the scenery should be
spectacular since volcanic origin usually means dramatic
landscapes. This also means that we shouldn't run into the islands
without seeing them first since they should rise nicely above the
horizon. Believe it or not, running into an island can be a concern
if it is dark and the island is only 10-15 feet above sea level. The
charts for the South Pacific are notoriously outdated and off by as much as 1-2
miles in some places. Needless to say, we don't plan to make landfall at any of
these exotic places in the dark.
Anne
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