Pacific Odyssey - Leg 6

Last night it was so calm the water looked oily under the light of the
moon.  We are still motoring though the wind is very slowly picking up from
the west.  If it strengthens we will be able to put up the course sails and
sail down wind.  We caught a fish early this morning, one we haven´t caught
before; Arwen ran below to grab the fish identification book (in true
´Tavish´ style) and discovered it to be a ´Yellow tail,´ a fish in the
Amberjack family.  It was at least 20 lbs. and a beautiful fish, fins and
tail edges lined in brilliant yellow, on a body of silver.   Antony reeled
it in and filleted it.  For a mid-day snack, Sarah B. and Noah baked the
fish, half of it done in salt, pepper, lemon and oil, and the other half
done in a teriyaki marinade.  It was delicious.  Today was probably the
warmest day so far; the girls were in tank tops and the guys were
bare-chested.   Intermediates wrote their final exam today; this morning 15
of them were spread all over the ship´s deck and houses, some below at the
tables, with chart, dividers, triangles etc. seeing how much they knew.
Jose was busy marking the exams this afternoon and going over them with the
trainees.  Work watch continued with fore watch sanding and oiling the cap
rails.  Antony is refinishing the wheel box while he is on watch.  Gillian,
Elske, and Katie are preparing a song for Sarah´s birthday, honoring Karen
Neale in the process; Karen started the pattern for personalizing songs for
people´s birthdays.  Simon, Noah, and Jacob had a massive water fight on
deck with empty soft squeeze bottles Jacob has been collecting for months
(ketchup bottles).  They were in their shorts, hats and t-shirts, and were
soaked, cool and very happy.  After work watch Elske and Arwen started
massaging each other´s backs with the palm sander.  Soon everyone was lined
up at the ´massage parlor´ waiting for a back massage, foot massage, etc.
It apparently feels wonderful and works well; even Skipper had a go with
Elske trying to ease out a kink in his neck.   After dishes Skipper
presented the first in his ´mini-series,´ a talk on the building of the
Pacific Grace.  Nearly everyone attended; they are excited about being a
part of the design and building of a new boat.  It is a beautiful night to
be on watch; the sky is clear and full of stars.  Gillian, Jose, Sarah,
Leighsa and I were trying to find familiar constellations, some we haven´t
seen since we were in Hawaii 11 months ago.   Leighsa finished her scarf in
the dark tonight; it is 7 feet long and beautiful; it looks good on her and
she began and ended with 24 stitches on her needles.  Sara R. and Emma have
nearly finished their ditty bags.  They sewed in the hand-made grommets they
made with the buttonhole stitch, and then spliced lanyards into the
grommets.  The lanyards meet in a star knot and there will be some kind of
knot to cinch the lines together so the top of the bag closes.  The bags
look great; there are a lot of skills used to create them.  Tristan would
like to wish his sister Caitlin a very happy birthday April 23rd and Maddie
also wishes her mom a wonderful 50th birthday April 23rd.
Sarah B. has written a wonderful piece on what a typical day as a watch
officer looks like.  I will add it to the end of this log.  Enjoy.
A hand touches my shoulder and I wake up from a sleep that feels too short
already. I look at the time.0347. It´s time to get up for watch. I reach
instinctively for the shirt that I wore yesterday (and probably the day
before as well) and put it on, fumbling in the dark so as not to ruin my
night vision with the intensity of a light. This is the 27th night run in 30
days and my eyes, feeling heavy, are telling me to go back to sleep, but up
I get, knowing that a beautiful starlit sky awaits me on deck.
As I finish putting on my harness Jose updates me on navigational
information and I take a quick look at the radar before heading up on deck
where I am greeted by Gabe at the wheel and Will walking his way towards us
with a plate of last nights brownies, the perfect 4am sugar jolt to kick
start us all.
The next hour and twenty minutes passes quickly with quiet stories and
laughs about the previous day and as the watch changes and two new trainees
are woken up Will mentions how much he is looking forward to going back to
his bunk again.0530 and my eyes are finally staying open on their own as I
head down to get the Brasso rags from the engine room. The next watch is
responsible for shining all the brass onboard and wiping yesterday´s salt
and grime from the windows. I am glad for these simple tasks which help pass
the time so quickly as we watch the sun rise slowly over the horizon ahead
of us. By 0640 another new pair of trainees is on deck and I need my
sunglasses on to cut the glare off the water. Maybe wearing my sunglasses
from 0630 to 1930 is why I have such a fantastic raccoon tan? Next job . . .
it´s time for the decks to be hosed down, so as Susan sets up the hose for
me, I head back down to the engine room to fire up the generator which will
power the pump and the freezer this morning. As I head back on deck I´m
thankful that we are over a month into our voyage and my watch is well
trained in the art of deck scrubbing; it goes quickly and efficiently and by
7am I can turn the hose off again. I pass through the galley this time and
say good morning to Katie, savor the smell of banana pancakes, and check to
make sure the freezer is turned on. Heading back on deck via the after
cabin, to wipe down all finished surfaces with fresh water, I nudge Antony,
whose watch is eating first sitting for breakfast, so he can start his watch
at 0800. At 0800 I whistle for second sitting and pass of the nav.
information to him. Breakfast is usually a relaxed time. I´ve been reading a
book called "The Robe" during this passage and we are nearing the end, but I
have to cut it short this morning; we are responsible for doing the
breakfast dishes.  I run to the after cabin to get some speakers as my watch
sets things up. Music always livens up dishes a bit and by 0920 we are done
and I can take a break with a cup of coffee and a book, interrupted briefly
to have a look at somebody´s blister and put sunscreen on another. We have a
talent show coming up so I need to work on that this morning too. All of a
sudden it´s noon and we´re eating again.
The weather has been so nice lately we are able to eat on deck and enjoy the
cool breeze with our picnic rather than eat down below in the foc´sle where
the table doesn´t quite fit all of us and our plates. Lunch is eventful,
even with the limited motion, we still end up knocking over a juice jug and
a quick reflex saves Bec from sitting in a pool of juice. Instead, she just
needs to dodge a stream that follows one of the deck seams down toward the
scuppers.
The afternoon is filled with reading, napping, sun-tanning, and chatting,
before Antony calls the crew together for devotions at 1445.  At 1500 we
take a break for a swim stop! I´m excited! I love the feeling of swimming in
the middle of the ocean; to know you are 15,000 ft. above the ocean bottom
and thousands of miles from land is exhilarating. The water is so
refreshing.  15 minutes is my watches allotted time and then we are on shark
watch for the others´ swim.  Time seems to shoot by so fast and after a
quick first aid call, all of a sudden it´s 1600 and I´m back on watch.
I send my watch leader to gather everyone together while I get the latest
navigational information and I´m back on watch again. The 1600-2000 watch is
responsible for clearing the decks for the night and it´s always an
adventure to root out what belongs to who and get things cleared up. We are
also able to eat on deck (which, when it´s raining isn´t as pleasant, but
this week it´s gorgeous). 1730 we sing grace for dinner and file down to get
our food. Someone brings an extra plate for the helmsman and me so we don´t
need to leave the deck.
At 1845 the sun is setting and it´s time to get the safety lines set, call
for harnesses to be on, and turn on the running lights and radar. My watch
checks to make sure all our safety lights are working and they find one that
needs to be re-lashed.  I quickly set to doing that while there is still
light enough to see. We spend the rest of our watch playing word games and
laughing after a joke that Will made. "What´s the same about last time we
were on this watch and at this time?" We couldn´t figure it out because the
last time was so radically different; it was pouring, squalling and there
was constant spray soaking us as we sat on deck hove to. "We still don´t
have to steer!" was his answer, which brought a chuckle. The steering is
easier in the calmer weather which is less stressful for me, knowing that it
won´t be a problem for everyone to stay on course.
At 2000 Antony takes over again and we pass off the necessary information.
It´s such a beautiful night I want to spend some time stargazing.  For the
next hour I am able to enjoy some time up in the foc´sle chatting with the
girls.  Arwen made cookies today, so I steal a hot cookie on my way through
the galley. By 2130 I need to be in bed so I can get about 6 hours sleep
before I´m on deck again. It´s time to put out the light, say good night and
plug into some music to put me to sleep over the ´white noise´ lull of the
engines.
Good-night, Sarah.
Until tomorrow, good-night, Bonice.