Harmonie - Day 12 - Going Fast Downhill

Day 12 - Going Fast Downhill

Harmonie

Don and Anne Myers

Fri 21 Mar 2008 19:56

08:57.812S 123:06.979W

Another day, another 190 miles logged toward our destination. Less than 900 miles left to go. The wind is still steady, still behind us, and we are surfing down the 8ft waves at speeds sometimes as high as 10 knots. We had another rolly night with not a lot of quality sleep going on, but I'm sure we will both make up for it over the next day or so. No sailboats, fishing boats or ships in sight - just the occasional bird (yes, waaay out here) and the many flying fish seen cruising a foot or so above the ocean surface before crashing down beneath it.

A word about the Changing of the Harmonie Night Watch:

Don and I have a rotating 3 hours on, 3 hours off watch schedule that we follow during the night. Don starts with the 7pm to 10pm watch, then I'm up from 10pm to 1am, Don 1am to 4am and me again from 4am to 7am.

The watch changes that take place at 1am and 4am are always carried out in the same manner, and upon reflection, are not that different from the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington, or the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, with a few exceptions of course. Like, we don't wear fancy hats, but we do wear a uniform, that being a life jacket and harness. We don't carry weapons, but I suppose the safety knife we have strapped to our life jacket could be considered a weapon. We also have two whistles and a small flashlight strapped to our life jacket - these may even be over and above what those fancy soldiers carry with them. We don't march precisely around the boat squaring our corners and lifting our knees up to our waist, but we do use a coordinated boat crawl to get from the cabin into the cockpit when it is our turn to watch. The main thing we have in common with the changing of the guard in Arlington and London is the limited conversation that takes place during the change. Ok, well, you never see the guards actually talk, but if they did talk, their conversation would probably be similar to that which takes place during the Changing of the Harmonie Night Watch. The process goes something like this:

1am

Anne does the coordinated boat crawl from the cockpit down into the cabin where she goes directly to the sleeping Don, who is sprawled out on the narrow sea berth, which is just around the corner from the chart table (where all the instruments and log book are located).

Anne gently touches Don's head.

Don groans.

Anne says, 'It's one o'clock!'

Don says nothing.

Anne goes back into the main cabin and takes off her harness (it's like taking off shackles - it's that heavy).

Anne then takes all the hourly readings and writes them in the logbook. (We take hourly readings of boat course, speed, latitude, longitude, true and apparent wind direction, barometric pressure, air temperature, battery voltage, etc. We do this so that we can spot trends over time and react to them. Taking the readings once per hour also ensures that lackadaisical watch personnel pay attention to what is going on at least once an hour.)

While filling in the logbook, Anne hears Don get up.

Don shuffles into the bathroom.

Anne finishes the logbook and does the coordinated boat crawl back into the cockpit to wait for the new watchman to arrive.

Don shuffles from the bathroom to the chart table area and glances at the logbook.

Anne does the coordinated boat crawl from the cockpit back down to the cabin (all the while thinking, 'Thank God! Now I can sleep!').

Anne takes off her life jacket (also like taking off shackles).

Don puts on his shackles.

No conversation takes place.

When Don is suited up, and has poured his coffee (already made up and waiting in a thermos), the Change of Watch Conversation finally begins:

Anne: 'Did you sleep?'

Don: 'Some'

Anne: 'There's nothing on radar - no ships, no sailboats, no squalls.'

Don: no response

Anne: 'The wind increased, so I reefed the sails, you'll have to look to be sure they are set properly.'

Don: no verbal response, just a slight nod of the head

Anne: 'The battery voltage is low, you are going to have to run the generator soon'

Don: no verbal response, just a slight nod of the head

Anne: 'Goodnight'

Don: 'Goodnight'

That's it.

To sum up the Change of Watch Conversation:

Anne - a total of 50 words spoken

Don - a total of 2 words spoken

The whole process repeats in reverse at 4am. At that time, the Change of Watch Conversation sums up this way:

Anne - a total of 2 words spoken

Don - a total of 50 words spoken

And so it goes.

Now it's time for...

Marquesas Semi-Useless Factoid #11:

The Spaniard Alvaro Mendana named the group of islands he 'discovered in 1595 in honor of the sponsor of he expedition, the Marchioness of Mendoza, wife of the viceroy of Peru. Hence the name 'Marquesas'.

Anne