I go to bed at midnight after my watch and miraculously fall asleep quite quickly despite the horrendous noise. We are now sleeping in the stern cabin. Our cabin is just too bouncy and even more noisy.
I wake just before 4 am and get up to see if Mike wants to change the sails before I go on watch again. We are still racing along at over 8 knots and the sea is rougher than ever. He sends me back to bed but I sleep fitfully, every crash bringing me to before dozing off again. Eventually when he comes to get me it is nearly 6.30 am and he’s been on watch for over six hours.
He tells me to wake him if the winds get consistently over force 6 and within an hour they do. I hate to wake him but he gets up and after putting the two reefs in the main, he then decides to take the whole thing down – and we’re still going at just under 8 knots.
During the morning a wave of sea sickness rolls over me at the same time as a series of hot flushes. I feel wretched and start to cry. I hate feeling like this, tired, sick, hot and achy from being thrown about. Mike gets me a sea sick tablet, makes sure the bucket is within throwing up distance and gives me a cuddle. I lie down on the sofa and wait for it to pass.
After half an hour or so I decide I have been pathetic for long enough and get up to do the washing up while Mike goes to bed. I then set and start to make him some banana bread as the bananas are getting to the point of no return. As I am creaming the butter and sugar together I start to feel sick again and rush outside still clutching my mixing bowl and spoon. I sit in the cockpit, with salt spray and waves crashing all over the boat, realising that I probably won’t need the the half a teaspoon of salt in the cake as the elements are taking care of this. What a strange sight I make, sitting naked in the cockpit, legs up on the table, mixing a cake with a bucket at my side in case I need to puke. Ah, the ecstasy of sailing!
I manage not to throw up, finish the cake batter and put it in the bread machine to cook. I then soak the rest of the bananas in sugar and Triple Sec ready to caramelise them for Mike later on and make lunch, stir fried pak choi with teriyaki garlic shrimp.
The sea continues to be uncomfortable. At one point during the afternoon we hear a loud crash which sounds like it is outside. Mike dashes around outside and I check both hulls. We can find nothing untoward except a large squid which landed on the bimini then slid off leaving a large amount of blue ink over the roof, hardly the crashing noise we heard. It’s still a mystery. Maybe we hit something. Who knows?
By the time I am ready for bed, the glands in my neck are huge, an indication that I am fighting something off. Maybe that’s why I felt so wretched today. I down a large dose of vitamin C and a couple of painkillers and hope that will do the trick.
Our position is: 16 deg 25 min S, 158 deg 19 min E
Distance so far: 9877 nautical miles
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