When Mike wakes me for my second watch I am truly dead to the world and have great difficulty getting up. There’s very little going on outside, either with the weather or with other yachts, and time passes slowly.
Mike wakes up before my watch finishes and comes outside to see me. By this time I am feeling decidedly unwell. I ate a huge meal last night and far too much of the wonderful Lebanese baklava that Sara and Rolando gave us and I have a stomach aches. I can’t face breakfast and instead go back to bed. As the morning, then the rest of the day goes on, I realise that it is not a case of overeating, I am actually unwell; my neck aches, in fact everything aches – skin, stomach, head – and I feel totally lethargic and as weak as a kitten.
Poor Mike is left to deal with the boat all day and then he has to take the first watch too. At least there’s lots for him to do as he fiddles with the computer so that I can use my e-mail account through the satellite phone and messes around generally with the sails, constantly readjusting them.
The sea gives us an uncomfortable ride for most of the day. The waves, although not big, come at us from all directions. The noise they make hitting the hulls is horrific and they constantly jolt the boat. Added to that is the irritatingly loud squeak of the block holding the boom to one side which is right over the stern cabin where I am trying to sleep. Sigh.
We make good speed during the day though, and start to catch up with the other boats. By the afternoon, we are abreast of Noeluna and can see Ronja on the horizon. By late afternoon, however, the sky turns quite dark and Mike can see squalls on the radar so he takes reefs in the genoa and the main. By the time I go on watch at midnight, we could pass through a hurricane and not worry about the sails – they are the size of two handkerchiefs!
Our position is: 03 deg 28 min S, 96 deg 00 min W
Distance so far: 2997 nautical miles
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