Pacific Odyssey - Leg 7

I sit here in a very quiet after cabin; my boys are asleep, Skipper is
setting up the berth control board in our bunk, and Jose and Antony are in
their bunk reading and listening to music.  In the hold and foc´sle trainees
are sleeping already or sitting around the tables chatting, writing,
reading, playing cards, drinking tea and staying warm.  While I´m listening
to music on my ipod, the Verve´s ´Sonnet,´ dressed in my layers of fleece,
down, woolen underwear and rain pants, Sarah, Elske, and Sean, members of
port watch, are bundled in even more layers on deck.  I can´t hear their
talk and laughter because the hatch is pulled tightly closed to prevent any
of the cold air from entering below.  All the ship´s hatches are closed,
they have been all day.  On starboard´s 1600-1800 dogwatch (a mini-watch set
up on Sundays so that the watch times rotate back, creating a new watch
schedule for the following week) Sara R. came on deck looking, and feeling,
like a ´Michelin´ man and wearing 4 hoods over top of each other.  Yes, it
is cold, but it is not affecting the good time we are having.  Of course
some sun and some warmth would be welcomed, but life continues pretty well
like usual, with a lot of interaction (especially within our watches at
mealtimes and on watch, and around the hold table between meals), projects
(knitting, leatherwork, sewing, knot tying), reading, journal writing,
helping in the galley etc.  The last 3 days have flown by; every morning I
set a few goals but usually I complete only 1 or 2 if I am lucky.  I think
others feel likewise.  Last night we jumped forwards an hour; we took the
hour off of the 0000-0400 watch, to give Sarah B. one less cold hour to
stand watch.  We continued under sail and engine until 1600 hrs today.  We
have been making steadily less knots per hour since last night, with the
wind and the waves increasing.  Skipper decided to turn off the engine and
wait out the headwinds, thus saving on fuel; the silence is stunning,
wonderful, and makes up for the slow speed we are making, 2 kts . . . for
now.  We held Sunday service this afternoon in the hold; Skipper steered for
a few hours and dolphins entertained him the entire time he was on the
wheel.  Just before supper Jose´s watch spied a small seal/otter-looking
creature following us, peering curiously at the ship, lifting itself out of
the water to have a better look.  It came quite close, within 10ft, and soon
everyone was coming up from below, braving the cold to have a look.  Antony,
who I feel knows most on this ship about sea mammals, thought it was a young
California Sea Lion far from its normal habitat.   It was very small and
very cute.  Christina wanted to put it in the dory, saying we would catch
fish for it to eat.  Sarah B. smiled and responded facetiously, ´yes, and we´re
good at that.´  Elske finished her lure, dressing it up with a homemade
´skirt´ (the rubbery threads of colour hanging off the end of the resin lure
and hiding the hook).  We tried it out yesterday.  Skipper says that we
probably have about 24 more hours of strong headwinds before the wind dies
down and we may then have to deal with no wind.  Where are those predictable
north westerlies?  Weather seems to be less and less predictable in
comparison to offshore trips I remember 10 and 12 years ago.   The waves are
big and beautiful; I can watch them for a long time.  They are green-blue in
colour with streaks of lighter turquoise blue where air mixes in close to
the surface.  The waves are slamming into the hull slightly forward of
amidships on the port side, rolling the ship steeply from side-to-side and
causing havoc down below.  At supper tonight 2 jugs of liquid; one filled
with water and one with juice, were swept off the foc´sle table onto Chris P´s
lap.  Usually if the watch is eating in the foc´sle, someone holds onto the
jugs; the motion is not forgiving, reminding us regularly of this fact.
There was a resumption of the ´towel flicking wars,´ popular during leg 6,
in the galley.  This time Elske and Blake came dressed up to compete against
Adam and Raven; I heard it was quite a battle, but I´m not sure who won.
There have been many great conversations taking place, both of a serious and
non-serious nature; many are personal, others revolve around a certain
issue, and the rest are just fun and silly.  Katie would like to wish her
sister Amy a wonderful birthday May 25th.  Happy 31st birthday Amy, love
Katie.  This is it for tonight.  Until tomorrow, good-night, Bonice.