There is wind in the night, there is no doubt about that. It howls and the boat pulls slightly from side to side in her slip, strung out on her warps, and it rains (I think). But that’s it. When we get up in the morning, we check the recorded wind speeds and the most it got to in the night was 36 knots. We’ve sailed happily in 30 knots of wind. OK it was almost right behind us and going in the same direction as the waves, but even so. What a non event.
Mike and I both wake up aching. In fact my arms hurt so much that I have to take painkillers in the night so that I can get back to sleep. Mike is so exhausted that after going to pick up the laundry, he goes back to bed for a rest, and stays there until the early afternoon.
The boat is in a complete mess. Because Per left not having finished the job, one of the cabins is completely stripped down and the bed slats and mattresses are in the room Johanne and Steve are to have from tomorrow. I can’t even get in to clean their bathroom. We can’t put everything in the other spare cabin because it’s full of everything we took from the outside of the boat as part of our storm preparation. And there’s stuff all over the salon. I could scream!
Early predictions for today are for really heavy rain, starting at 2pm and getting really heavy by 5pm. By 3pm there is a light drizzle which gets heavy for a few minutes then eases off again. I take the opportunity of dashing out during the heavy moments and scrubbing bits of deck.
Photo: Scrubbing the decks in the rain
It is going to take us ages to put the boat back together again. Everything is so well tied up. Steve and Johanne will have their work cut out when they arrive. My rope work on the main sail is quite impressive. Thank goodness I understand how to to blanket stitch which is all this is.
Photo: My blanket stitch rope work on the main sail
By late afternoon, Tropical Storm Erika is officially no longer a tropical storm. The predicted rain still hasn’t arrived. I just hope it’s not because she is moving so slowly that everything is being held up. I don’t want the rain arriving tomorrow and blighting Johanne and Steve’s first day.
Mike moves enough stuff out of the other main cabin for me to clean it and then I move on to the bathroom. Luckily my sister had this one previously so you could almost eat your dinner off the floor as she always keeps things lovely!
After cleaning toilets I always want to have a shower. It’s a cold one (well cool, the water never actually gets cold) which is good because for some reason, my lower legs and feet are really swollen – retaining fluid – unusual for me. I probably spent too much time sitting at the PC during the day while it was really humid.
By the time I come out there is a Bloody Mary waiting for me along with another beautiful sunset.
Photo: Sunset over the lagoon
As neither of us are that hungry and there’s very little in the fridge, I make scrambled eggs with white truffle cream, and have ham on the side. For something which is thrown together, it is delicious.
I hope the rain keeps off tomorrow.
My goodness, who ever thought that there would be so much work to living aboard? I thought that it would be lady of leisure for you...not so it seems, probably more work than expected though.
ReplyDeleteSo until the Erika thing passes, you'll stay put? I quilt so I truly admire your "needle" work on the sail. So very even. Good thing you took the photo for memories.
Another great blog. Glad to be on board with you guys...