A day in the life...
Calypso's Web Diary
Joe Drury
Wed 8 Jun 2011 09:31
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Hello all,
A day in the life of a
single-hander...
5am, as dawn breaks, check the course and speed,
bleary-eyed get into harness and trim the sails, shake the reefs out. Cast an
eye over the foredeck and check for breakages. Gulp a load of water down.
Go back to bed.
6am, Go for a pee.
7am, Get up, get dressed, change underwear (if
needed..!) Cup of teeeaaa!
8am, Write in
ship's log. Start engine, monitor volts and power usage, turn off non-essential
daytime kit, Radar, Lights, etc.
9am, Engine off, and like home on a day off - an
episode of Frasier. Cook breakfast, today was a ham and cheese toastie with
coffee and a smoke. Clean galley as I've usually not cleaned it from the evening
meal... More sail trim.
10am, Go above decks and have a good breathe of
fresh air and scan the horizon. I never see anything. Tidy cockpit ropes and
re-trim sails. Today at least, heard yacht "Relief" hailing and had a nice chat
with him, he's going faster than me, why???
11am, Check emails. Write blog. Agonise about my
position and standing in the race. Retrim sails again! Worry about speed and
course.
12:00, Read for a bit. Have a bit of a tidy up. Cup
of tea. Talk to myself for a bit, perhaps have a sing song. Every
other day take a call from Alex at home.
1pm, It's pretty boring, this. I'll bet you stopped
reading around 10am.
2pm, Consider an afternoon nap. Have a good look
out (nothing seen) and turn the radar on, set the alarm and curl up in the bunk
that has the least amount of seawater dripping on it.
3pm, Realise that I'm not going to get any sleep,
get up again. Consider lunch. Usually something light, soup or a sandwich, fruit
and nuts. Another cup of tea. Radar off, engine on for another hour to charge.
4pm, Read for a bit more. Trim again, fix stuff
about the boat.
5pm, Write in the log a bit more. Arrange wet
clothes and blankets in the dry areas of the boat. Try to sleep
again.
6pm, Have another lookout on deck, worry about
approaching weather. Seems to get a bit squally around the evening out here so
put a reef in the main and trim the genoa down.
7pm, Have a cup of tea and a smoke.
8pm, Have another cup of tea and a smoke.
8:30, Tea, something stodgy or starchy, stew and
potatoes or pasta and veg. consider doing the washing up. fail at this.
9pm, One last check above deck and retrim. Radar,
alarms and lights on. Settle down with a blanket at the chart table and watch a
film or documentary. Lately I've been watching episodes of "Human Planet" which
is great. whiles away a nervous hour.
10pm, Read for a bit, get comfy, check wind and
sails. Have a snack, usually chocolate or a new discovery, custard crumble puds.
mmm!
11pm, Worry about whether that noise you heard was
a whale, sneaking about under the boat, ready to casually bash into me with
disasterous consequences. Control heart rate, try to wind down and nap.
12am, Log entry for the day, miles covered, miles
to go, average speed for the day. Last cigarette and a horlicks or chocolate.
1am, Finally sleep. Not for long, wind will
invariably shift or increase, back in my clothes, jacket, harness, up on deck
just as the wind goes back to how it was. back below and undress and into bed.
Something always starts clanking above deck now, try to ignore, fail, back into
clothes and up on deck.
2am. See 1am.
3am, See 2am.
4am, blissful 20 minutes sleep, awoke by dawn,
aaaand start all over again. Remind me why I'm alone out here
again?
x
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