| 13/06/2007 - 10/07/2007 »» page 3/4 »»
| | ...continued from the previous page |
14. day - 26/06/2007 - We have weekdays that start like an ordinary day however, we feel that there is a conspiration by the elements against us on that particular day. So what we can do we try to succeed and watch the sky for help it might bring a next better day.
The day started like an ordinary day on board. We set new formations of the sails early in the morning we changed our track again. We sat down and had breakfast we were a bit tired. We were thinking about the fact that in a few hours we would pass the half way of the ocean-crossing journey. That would be around 1,500 miles far away from lands.
I was cooking coconut cookies to celebrate the event today when we saw the first ugly grey cloud behind us. From this moment other ugly grey clouds (squalls) started to come nearly without any interruption. These squalls are incredibly quick and they bring sudden and strong winds usually with some rain. I am sure these squalls were programmed to Earth to annoy sailors. Sailors know what to do in these cases they have to decrease the sails (reef).
After noticing the first squall the following events occurred:
at 10.10 am we reefed the sails
- 2 minutes after the storm hit and we had a strong 35 knots of wind for around 10 minutes, then the squall has gone
- dead calm started we had a weak 10 knots of wind
- we put the cookies into the oven and released the reef from the sails
- at around 11 am the next squall followed the previous
- so we reefed again and checked the cookies, which looked nice
- the storm hit again with similar winds like the previous
- at 12.05 pm the sky was so clear probably to help the little celebration we planned for the day
- we reached the 1,500 miles at 12.15 pm and celebrated with some coke and coconut cookies
- we took some pictures
- then the sky grew dark again
- we put away the cameras
- and of course reefed the sails then started to cook the lunch
- we cut the onion and put it to a safe position
- at 12.45 the storm hit again and brought some rain
- and again dead calm after it
- so we released the reef avoiding the flapping of sails
- we cleaned and cut the potato and prepared the soy stew
- we released for almost 10 minutes
- at 13.35 pm the next squall appeared
- so we reefed
- at 14.00 pm we released the reef and had lunch….
I think it is enough to see how this day was like. So we are just waiting for the next shiny day of resting.
Daily position:
10:25 5-06.70S 113-52.79W log= 20162.4
|
15. day - 27/06/2007 - , Behind the Scenes(Ocean crossing - on the board of Rotor, during night watch)
It is midnight and Geza has already been sleeping for an hour. I do the night watch from 11 pm to 3 am (Galapagos time). I switched on the computer and started to type the daily summary of the ship bog. Here are my writes and thoughts.
Thought: What happened today? Yes, I remember…
Write: In the morning many dorado fish swam next to our boat. Their shiny and colourful body glittered in the early light. We brought the bait and dropped into the water just before the fish.
(A big wave rolled the boat during my typing. The jib was flapping and something fell down from the table. Geza turned to his other side but he continued his sleeping. I tried to find the staff that fell down by searching in the dark. I found the sunglasses and put it back to its place.)
Thought: We had many cases when we destroyed glasses by stepping on them in the dark on board.
Write: One of the fish immediately bit the bait. We caught the fish. We got use to the fish on board, so the challenge now is making pizza on board instead of. We made a pizza pepperoni for dinner that was delicious.
(I looked out from the cabin as I look out in every 15 minutes. I could not see anything only the full moon.)
Write: There is full moon.
Thought: It is good to have some light in the nights. It covers the ocean with a silver rug and shows us our way on it. I love the reflections it causes.
Write: We did 116 miles today. There is still 1363 miles left to Marquesas. We are a bit over the half journey.
Thought: So where we are now? Nowhere. Of course we can define the position geographically but we cannot define it in our mind. It is too far from anywhere, I feel it is beyond me.
(I heard strange sounds from the cockpit. Something was flapping or wriggling. I switched on the light in the cockpit. I saw a flying fish on board. I helped it into the water. I looked around again. Still nothing.)
Thought: What is the chance to see a boat here around? It is the same chance around that a whale comes up next to the boat. But the last had happened so the former could happen too. The smallest probability can be big in a given moment.
Write: The temperature is around 27-28 degree Celsius.
Thought: It is winter here, which is very similar to the summer at home. But we have less rain at home. It would be nice to feel both at once.
(I heard breathing this time from outside. I went out and could see the ocean to glow around some dolphins with bioluminescence as they stir up thousands of tiny phosphorescent creatures that light up when disturbed. I switched on the GPS. We were still on the track. I calculate that our average speed is more than 5 knots.)
Thought: Can we make a new record? No, I do not think so based on the current weather conditions.
Write: Competition is on.
Thought: That is all.
(I stopped writing. I had to go outside again. I felt my eyes sticking down. I checked the wind vane and sat behind the wheel. I was watching all around. I looked up the sky and saw a squall behind us. I made Geza to wake up. We had to reef and it was time to change the night watch.)
Sorry, it is a bit long, but I had to write all the parts down. After a couple of years I still want to know it was not just a dream.
Daily position:
16:10 5-49.90S 116-13.00W log= 20308.5
|
16. day - 28/06/2007 - - Is America still very far from here?
- It has already been very far away...
The squalls in the previous days cleaned the sky above and we have not got wind at all. So it is better not to say anything about our daily average speed. But at least we could sleep a bit during the day. No speed, no setting sails. But we can share the story of our rescued bucket. Everybody knows that if you are tired the staffs will fall into the water more frequently around you.
We originally had 3 buckets on board. We lost two as they were very heavy and sank immediately. The third bucket was different though. We lost it too when we reorganised the cockpit to a hair saloon. We needed lots of water to wash our hair and used this third bucket to pull some water on board. It happened that the bucket was not on the board any more. We saw the white edge of it far away. It did not sink completely. So we dropped after it the Man-overboard buoy to sign the place where we lost the
bucket. Geza made the buoy at home and it looks like the spear of Don Quijote as it is more meters long. So we released the sails but we could not see the bucket any more only the buoy because of the big waves around. We turned against the currents and waves and went back to the buoy. We made some circulars around it when we saw the bucket again half way under the water. We had time to go for it so we could rescue our last bucket with the boat hook. Then we picked the buoy. The lesson is the following:
if you lost something on the waving sea you do not have the chance to find it unless you are prepared and you have a buoy to drop after the staff you lost.
In the night our squid bait was taken by a big fish.
Daily position:
09:45 6-21.79S 117-15.70W log= 20378.5
|
17. day - 29/06/2007 - I can feel clearly now the rain has gone … I could start the day singing this song. It was a really bright and shiny day. After the variable wind of the last days we had a stable 10-12 knots of wind. The squalls have gone also the counter currents and the waves. Can we wish better for the day? A fried chicken would be perfect, but we still have to wait for that.
We are running now towards west instead of broad reaching southwest. We had to replace a jib rope as it showed signs of wear. The highlight of the day was a beautiful sunset on the west with a full moon rise on the east at the same time.
That was all for the day. Thanks for the interest.
Daily position:
16:00 8-00.00S 119-20.00W log= 20536.2
|
18. day - 30/06/2007 - The highlight of this day was, that we met with 3 other boats although we are so far from everywhere and the ocean is huge. But may be not huge enough. We saw the first sailing vessel before sunrise. We called them on VHF and they replied. For our surprise they were the Bulgarian people we met them before at St Kitts. This time they delivered a boat to New Zealand. The world is so small.
The second boat was a fishing boat, which could hardly decide how to go around Rotor. Uncertainty looked on it as it changed a few times directions. We called them on VHF but they did not reply so we had to switch on the radar to follow them. The boat rather looked like a party boat than a fishing boat as all its deck lights were on. It managed to avoid us by 1 mile.
The third sailing boat appeared for a moment then disappeared behind the huge waves. The visibility was not very good.
We started our last 1000 miles today. We celebrated it with a ham - cheese and tomato pizza. We opened a coconut too to cheer the 15 knots of wind we had today. We changed the night watch again and delayed it by an hour because the sunset and the sunrise are bit later now, as we are closer and closer to Marquesas.
Daily position:
16:00 7-40.54S 121-30.00W log= 20666.4
|
19. day - 01/07/2007 - We had a strong around 1 knot counter current today, so we were a bit slow. The wind was around 10 knots we had a pleasant, sunny journey today though.
We made a stocktake on board what we had left from the fresh goods. Most of the things looked good such as potato, yucca, onion, fruits (apple, orange, grapefruit), but I had to drop out some eggs. The eggs we cooked them for 3 seconds were fine too.
We had some news from Bahia de Caraqez in Ecuador. There is a new rule of the port captain. The boats have to use agents to clear in and out, but as we heard there were not any agent in the town. Some boats got stucked there. So it looks we left the port just in the right time. | This day's highlight was, that we met with 3 other boats although we are so far from everywhere and the ocean is huge. But may be not huge enough. We saw the first sailing vessel before sunrise. We called them on VHF and they replied. For our surprise they were the Bulgarian people we met them before at St Kitts. This time they delivered a boat to New Zealand. The world is so small.
The second boat was a fishing boat, which could hardly decide how to go around Rotor. Uncertainty looked on it as it changed a few times directions. We called them on VHF but they did not reply so we had to switch on the radar to follow them. The boat rather looked like a party boat than a fishing boat as all its deck lights were on. It managed to avoid us by 1 mile.
The third sailing boat appeared for a moment then disappeared behind the huge waves. The visibility was not very good.
We started our last 1000 miles today. We celebrated it with a ham - cheese and tomato pizza. We opened a coconut too to cheer the 15 knots of wind we had today. We changed the night watch again and delayed it by an hour because the sunset and the sunrise are bit later now, as we are closer and closer to Marquesas.
Daily position:
16:00 8-25.00S 123-12.58W log= 20777.3
|
20. day - 02/07/2007 - Probably more people thought about whether we experienced any change in our mood due to the plenty of water around. We have good news to those persons who want to try the ocean crossing in the future. We had a quite good mood due to the plenty of water around. We have time to think more, talk, read etc.
We used to be the part of the nature and now we can try again how it could be to be part or active participant of this big, round, perfect totality. We feel in our vein how good is getting our own fish, showering with the sea or the rain, drying with the wind, being happy with the animals around, watching the sunrise or sunset, meditating with the rising moon. We did not really do it at home before. We have already asked ourselves the questions. When did we last saw the strength of the nature? When
did we last feel that we are active participant of this nature? When did we last wake up with sun? And when did we last watch the upcoming moon? W acknowledged that these things did not really happen frequently before. But now here we are and what we can do is to live with this moment. We have a task. The task is to arrive from A to B point. It looks so easy. And we would like to find something else at the end of it. We called the nature to help us. We sometimes fight with the elements or sometimes
just release. We feel the fire inside that we have to do it and that we are able to do it. It is the fight of the fire the air and the water. The wind helps the fire but water smooth it. If we win we could have something reward at the end.
With the theory of A to B point we had the following tasks today to fulfil:
1. We changed the track to the south west from the north west. We set our new sails.
2. We modified our track to go more to the north of the island of Marqesas.
3. We talked on VHF with Dingo SV. The vessel is fast so they passed us today.
4. We were fishing but we did not catch anything. Maybe tomorrow.
Daily position:
19:05 7-50.59S 125-07.09W log= 20895.8
|
21. day - 03/07/2007 - This day started exactly on the same way as the previous 20 days and the interesting was that it ended exatly on the same way too.
During the day we had good wind and a bit higher waves.
Daily position:
16:00 8-14.00S 126-56.00W log= 21006.1
. |
Continues on the next page... |
| | |
|
