Saturday Dec 10
A glorious morning as we ready Last Chapter for departure coffee in hand, a spring in our step we cast off and head out into the gulf for a few hours rounding the North West Cape approximately 0930 getting a decent amount of sail up to best use the available 20knot S’ouWesters. It’s goodbye to mainland Australia and out into the Indian Ocean. By 1600 the winds have started to push 25 to 30 knots and for the rest of the evening we push west easily averaging 8 to 9 knots even though the seas are uncomfortably on our beam.
Unfortunately Hugh has again been stricken with the Mal-de-mare and whilst valiantly trying to cook dinner (frying pork chops when feeling less than ideal is never a good recommendation) he eventually realises running from the galley to above deck every few minutes is not a safe or helpful way to spend the night. I take over his cooking duties whilst Hugh lies down and allows the Phenergan to do its job. Happily Hugh isn’t stricken quite so badly this time and eventually is able to stay semi vertical with out having to feed the fish.
Sunday Dec 11
We made pretty good time over the last 24 hours clocking 188 miles from a standing start; I’m hoping to break the 200 before we get to Cocos. The bulk of the day is spent sleeping as our bodies attempt to get into the rhythm of both the boat’s motion and the watch shifts. I find day 2 usually the hardest on the body and this one proves no different. At least the wind is consistent, sending us along 7+ knots without working the boat too hard. In the evening we watch a DVD documentary “Touching the Void” about 2 Englishmen who climbed a peak in Peru only to descend into a one of the most torturous dice-with-death stories one is ever likely to encounter. Not sure it was such a great choice on a yacht heading into the middle of the Indian Ocean.
Wed Dec 14
Before you get concerned that perhaps I’ve skipped a few days or they’ve been consumed by some digital black hole, rest assured dear reader that you are not being robbed of some riveting information but really there has been nothing to tell.
The last few days have been completely un-news worthy and it’s only through the need to go through the process of actually writing something, anything; that has got me to fire up the lap top and tap away.
I’ll give you an overview of the situation. Seas are around 2-3 meters and the majority of this swell is directly from the South. Wind is generally 20knots and from the South. Occasionally the wind moves 5 degrees towards the east but that only seems to happen in the lulls but they’re infrequent and last only for an hour or so. We set our sails shortly after leaving the mainland. On a port tack we have the main set at the second reef, our cutter headsail set to starboard and the larger gib, poled out and set to port. The sky has been cloud covered with the occasional breaks in the afternoons for the sun to make a cameo appearance for and hour or so every day now and the water temperature (our instruments tell us 29.1 degrees but I think they tell big fat lies), is slowly building to tropical levels.
For five days now, nothing has changed. We sleep, we eat, we read and we occasionally ablute. The main entertainment of the day apart from waiting for Peter to hit his head again – and may I say he’s doing it with monotonous regularity, is checking the GPS and seeing how many calculated hours there are before Cocos, or what our daily top speed has been, both bits of data have been most pleasing so far.
We’ve have since leaving Exmouth, been averaging over well over 7 knots with daily top speeds around 12 or 13 knots when surfing down the waves and without sounding too optimistic at this rate we will get to Cocos Islands around Friday night. Ideally we would like to arrive in daylight but we’d be happy to arrive earlier during the night and just potter about until first light before entering the atoll. Given the tricky entry and the abundance of bommies, a conservative approach will be the order of the day.
So that basically brings you up to speed. We are all healthy and well, though Hugh’s health is attributed entirely to his regular intake of Phenergan whilst Peter is doing fine I fear he may return with permanent indentation on his head and as for myself all is just dandy. As for the yacht, Last Chapter is being most kind to us and is handling the condition admirably with only a few gripes from us so far. Green water over the bow (luckily now very infrequent) produces an irritating leak in the forward cabin which unfortunately given the current tack means Hugh, who has the starboard bunk gets the occasional dousing. The other (minor) concern is that we can’t seem to get the prop to feather. Upon killing the engine the prop seems to slip out of gear and spin merrily away giving Peter who has the aft cabin, that never-ending drone of the shaft turning. Of course Peter, I’m sure would happily cope with all the boat’s quirks if they had only given the couch-house a centimeter or two more head room.
Oh yes, one thing I am having fun with is the realization that I have now mentally conditioned the skipper. Let me explain.
As the shifts stand Hugh wakes me, I wake Peter and Peter wakes Hugh. Since the beginning of the voyage, if my shift is finishing around daylight (anywhere after 0500) I’ve woken Peter with a freshly made coffee, a gesture I know he always appreciates. Obviously in the process of making the coffee all the sounds associated with it, kettle whistling, cupboards opening and spoons stirring etc have alerted Peter to the fact and he awakes, often from a very deep sleep.
Now, as the days have progressed and we’ve settled into our sleep patterns, I have occasionally taken the liberty of indulging in a coffee at the start of my 0400 or 0500 shifts (Peter still having another hour and a half before his shift is due). But due to my inadvertent conditioning, no matter how deep his sleep (cabin wall shaking with his snoring etc), the moment the spoon makes contact with my cup, Peter awakes and starts to get up for HIS shift!!! I then have to inform him the coffee is for me and he can either have one too or go back to sleep. He’s back in his bed in a flash, snoring away merrily in no time.
NEWS FLASH!
How’s this for weird. Just as I was writing about the spoon hitting the cup (less than a minute ago) Peter sticks his head out of the cabin and asks me if I called him!!! I think Pavlov’s theory has transcended the mere physical; I can now do it via mental telepathy! Stay tuned as I attempt to manipulate Peter’s sub-conscience to awake with me with eggs benedict and freshly squeezed orange juice every morning!
Detlef Bauer