The inevitable has taken its course, and sea sickness got hold of me at
the most unexpected time. It did take me a few days to recover enough
from it to fgeel confident about sitting at the little cave called the
Navigation Station where the computer is situated, and consentrating on
a screen. But, well, I'm back:)
First of all sea sickness. There are three stages to sea sickness: in
the first stage, you are afraid that you're gonna die, in the second
stage, you wish you were, and in the third, you think you already are...
I can now confirm that this staging is completely correct. The stomach
decides to rock in a completely different direction and rithim to the
rest of your body and the boat, you feel like youre walking in space,
and not quite feel involved in the moment. Wierd, and not too pleasant.
I have to admit that I'm thankful for the recovery:)
As for the timing: I got sea sick when we were literally tortured by
"pond sailing". We had 3 days, with the sea sitting as still as a glass
of water, the strongest breeze only as strong as a relieving deep
breath, speed challenging those of snails, heat building in. So much for
the big ocean swells, and 20-30 knots of wind, and stressfull helming...
(And here I was, being sea sick over the mini movements of sea, when I
had absolutely no problem when all the boat was rocking, irony...)
I could not help thinking of the old merchant ships, sitting in the
middle of the ocean, waiting for trade winds to build back in, getting
worried about their food and drink supplies. Probably tension building
in together with the rising tempuratures and scarcity of water. The
tick, the ropes drying down, and sails flapping without any rithim just
like ours did. It felt just like visiting an archeological site,
thinking about what life must have been like back then.
Well, these are the days when you win or loose the race... The calm
waters was like another start, lining most of the fleet up. Almost all
the rankings changed as the fleet took different strategies. Some went
in between the Canaries, and took different routes even then, some went
west and some went east of Canaries. We were among those going in
between the islands. It proved to be a medioacre strategy and luck. We
seem to be still ranking in the middle of the fleet.
Several things were enjoyable for a change: we saw land for the first
time since 8 days: Fuerteventura and Grand Canarie islands. Watching sun
rise upon Fuerteventura, while finally and gladly leaving it behind was
an inspiring sight in particular. All colors of orange, and red and
blue, shading the land, and then the clouds in level with the land,
slowly yielding to a bright yellow and the rise of the sun. Looked more
like a photoshopped beauty picture than real. More Dolphins visiting the
boat to explore what was up, but getting bored pretty soon as we were
not making any speed to challenge them and keep them busy. Sea turtles,
though they were not as interested in the boar as the dolphins, they
just swam by.
As soon as I was over the sea sickness, I went up the mast for a rig
check yesterday. Once again being 90-95 foot above water, in an
elevating view, with the boat looking smaller down at my feet,
seeing the horizon from a totally different perspective (I could really
recognise that the world's slight roundness fromup there), swinging more
than the rest of the boat, moving in between the spreaders and working
on the screws, the stays, making sure all is fine was completely
exhilirating. I LOVE IT!
We've finally picked up breeze late yesterday, giving us all a cheer.
Finally a Spinnaker hoist (dropped down the windseeker, god bless:) ),
and started putting some miles behind us. We got hold of Edinbrough's
steering light and chased them down last night. It seemed like they had
a problem, and dropped significantly behind (I hope it's nothing too
serious). Now we can see Jamaica a few miles ahead of us and we're
chasing them for another position. Just like the start of the race...
Being in sight of another boat, after 5-6 days brings better
concentration and morale in the team as well...
Going for some rest now.
Keep an eye on me:)
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