BattPack Log Day 3 - 27 Nov - Waking to the sound of
waves crashing on the hull of the boat is now the norm rather than
disconcerting! We are gaining our sea legs. The rest of the crew quicker than
me, it seems, maybe that has something to do with me being chief cook!
Liberty and Jago are running around the boat like little monkeys and
releasing their energy through hands-on Ninja wars!
We are greeted by beautiful sunshine this morning. The
ocean is a glorious deep blue and the sky a perfect baby blue.
After breakfast, brave Alex and Jason decide it is time
to try the salt water shower. Do you know that the average person in the UK uses
150 litres of water per day? Onboard we have 8 litres pp pd and we are fortunate
to have a boat with 900 litres of water storage, double that of our previous
boat and much more than similar sized monohulls. It is a lesson in frugality.
Water is a precious resource onboard. Where we can , we use salt water, which is
of course in abundant supply! The salt water shower head needs fixing, so it is
a bucket over the head, wash with soap, a buckets to rinse off and a frugal
rinse down with a sponge of fresh water. The kids decide that baby wipes
are the way to go for the next couple of days!!
Everyone onboard has a job to do. It is important to
keep the crew focused. Today Jago is our rigging checker. Liberty is turning and
checking the fruit and vegetables in our net in the cockpit - she lets me know
which ones need eating up next! We divvy up the tasksso that everyone is
involved and has purpose.
Rex says to me today, "It is so much better than I
thought it would be Mamma, floating around in the middle of nowhere with nothing
much to do!" We are all surrendering to the moment, winding down from the pace
of our lives at home, recognising the benefits of physical and metaphorical
space.
I kicked off the watches tonight with Jago snuggled in
beside me. He was in awe at the stars - you can literally see the whole Milky
Way- a sight that neither of us have ever enjoyed before. The night passed
smoothly with Alex doing his first solo night watch and Rex and Ruby
joining Jason for the sunrise shift!
BattPack Log - Day 4 - 28 Nov - I awake to the wondrous
smell of Eggy bread! The sun is shining and everyone is in high spirits! We are
amazed to have sailed passed the Sahara Desert to our left. We are coming up to
the Cape Verde Islands and steering West ahead of them. We have reached a
milestone, we have sailed South until the butter melts (as was the indicator
many moons ago when boats sailed the old Trade routes) and now it is time to
head towards to Caribbean.
The wind and waves pick up and we are reaching speeds of
13kts down the crest of the waves. It feels like we are surfing but in a 24
tonne boat! This is exhilarating sailing!
We are already sharing so many more conversations than
we do at home. There is so much more time to hang out together, with no
distractions. We have all agreed that the passage will be device free - we have
no phone connectivity anyway but the kids still have games on their devices and
it would be easy to slip into the habit of playing games on them intently!
Instead we have an hour of DVD watching together at the end of the day. The rest
of the time we are interacting, playing card or other games, colouring, sewing,
playing music (guitars and keyboard onboard!), telling silly stories, cooking
reading books - a generous list of activities to pleasantly pass the time,
whilst being connected to each other in the present moment.
The sea temperature is slowly increasing, from 25
degrees in the Canaries to 27 degrees here. We debate who is brave enough to
dare to jump in and swim if the sea gets a bit
calmer!!