In short, a royal cluster sh*t night.
It all started with a failed attempt to have a small siesta after dinner and before watch. Bad idea. Really bad idea. The boat was rolling and pitching like in the first few days and I was brutally thrown about the bunk for 3 hours, hitting either the ropes keeping me in the bunk of the side of the hull next to my bunk.... Add humidity and closed hatches due to wave and there it goes: by the time I got up to do my watch (10pm - 2am) I was a real raging monster. I felt bruised, boilt, sick and all on the back of 2.5 hours sleep in the last 24 hours. Not a good start to the night.
Fortunately Richard and Matt took first stints on the wheel. I could barely stay awake... I hated it.
To add insult to injury 10 minutes into the watch we were showered by the mother of all storms to date. I have never sat under heavy poring rain for nearly 3 hours before. We all felt wet, tired, frustrated and in disbelief that this was really happening. Howard decided to checkout and disappear inside his jacket to the point we did not even know if he was there at all and say nothing for hours, Deborah found comfort in timing times for Richard, Matt and I to the minute and ocassionally even the seconds...Richard , Matt and I dreaded getting on the wheel to drive in the storm with water dripping down your face and were soooooo happy when passing it over to the next. You can now imagine how I was feeling due to the build up of events.
I took my turns on the wheel since it would not have been fair on Matt and Richard. It is only 3 of us driving on our shifts so one person less is unfair. I guess we could have called Christian up but he seemed tired and was chilling out down below.
Eventually sleep depravation took over and I felt as if I was going to be sick. This was probably the most irresponsible thing done here. I think that driving a car after drinking 20 Gin & Tonics would be safer than driving the boat in yesterday's condition. I am not even sure is legal ;-)
After my final stint on the wheel I went back to the bunk and asked the guys to please not wake me up for next shift. I had made my mind up that I would not be back on the wheel until I got some decent sleep (anything above 4 hours !). I knew this could create problems on board and logistic issues but better logistic issues than broaching the boat or getting anyone injured.
I was asleep by 1:30 am. Deeply asleep. The guys let me sleep passed the 6 am mark so I could catch up (BIG THANKS TO THEM FOR THIS). But there is never enough and at 6:45 am, dear Eckhardt, in one of his tired moments decided to open the hatch above my bunk so he could get a bit of fresh air. Instead I got about 15 liters of sea water on my back when I was asleep.... Totally unitended and as Eckhardt said to me this morning, he was just so tired and hot that he forgot.... but I was awake again and at the wheel by 7am ;-)
Sarah, my wife, who knows me dearly well must be laughing her head off imagining the above.
Since then the day has been good. Big waves and strong winds but manageable in day light, under the sun and after 5 hours sleep. We even watched Matt use my hair clippers to get a, shall we say, "adventurer's hair cut" After a nice light lunch (BLT baguette) we changed shifts and now have a few hours free... probably reading time and certainly not attempting to sleep right now given heat and movement.
We continue to sail heading 270 to St Lucia at 10knots. Less that 72 hours to get to land ! I know when we get there a lot of these things will be forgotten and most of what will remain will be the good memories and the satisfaction of having made the ocean crossing.... but deep down, not too deep, I will remember this last 24 hours for a long time ;-)
Long live adventure (with some sleep) !
Ciao