This five-hour watch thing seems to be working well – as long as the supply of movies lasts the course! I get cold though for the first time and slip into a tee shirt and my nightie and wrap one of Mike’s tee shirts around my shoulders. The whole effect is very fetching. The Ugg slippers will be coming out again soon at this rate, after all, the night time temperature is getting down to 24 degrees. Brrrr!
When I get up after my morning sleep and stagger, or rather, am thrown up the stairs, I can see that the good news is that the sun is shining but the bad news is that the swell is bigger than ever. Huge walls of water (better known as waves) are still getting us from behind and on the port side. The ones from behind, no matter how big are not too bad as they just push you along. It’s the buggers on the port side, coming from the south that cause the problem. They break over the boat or just smash into the side of the hull making the most horrendous noise. Depending on how they catch you, they can make the whole of the stern slew sideways extremely quickly, which is how my laptop took a flying leap and landed on the sofa. Mike explains that the longer the weather system hangs around, the bigger the sea will get and then it takes a while to calm down and get back to normal. That piece of good news cheers me up no end.
Photo: Still heaving
Before long I start to feel sea sick, shout for the bucket then sit waiting rather pathetically with it balanced on my lap for my meeting with Ralph and Hughie and the appearance of the diced carrots (or was it diced tomatoes ? - Billy Connolly reference!). Mike makes me a ginger cordial drink, a very strong one, and it has the desired effect – my 130 calories worth makes the nausea subside – for now.
Photo: Lady in waiting
The constant bobbing of my neck is causing me real problems. The muscles are as tight as anything and the constant headache is getting me down. I decide to put the neck brace on to give me some relief which ends up being a bad move as it puts pressure on my throat and ends up making me feel sick again. Out with the bucket once more, and the ginger cordial, which once again wins the day.
I spend the rest of the afternoon on the sofa, wrapped up in a beach towel, while Mike has his sleep, setting the alarm for every 25 minutes to get up and check around.
Photo: Pathetic lump on the sofa
With our postage stamp sized genoa out, I’m almost surprised that we are moving but we continue to make good progress.
Photo: A tiny bit of genoa is all we need to keep going
The evening produces the first sunset we have seen for some time, although it appears from between the clouds. It’s still a welcome sight.
Photo: The first sunset for days
Some time during the day we reach the half way mark (to Mauritius) in terms of miles. Whether we are half way in time remains to be seen. I bloody well hope so!!
Our position is: 19 deg 08 min S, 78 deg 15 min E
Distance so far: 15174 nautical miles
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