Blue Moon - day 21 blog

Our night shifts are turned into one hour single watches because we’re just drifting, so every person is steering on their own into the moonlight. With our main sail down and a small storm jib up for stability, Blue Moon is drifting with the current at 1knot of speed. My eyes are more focussed on the stars than on our course.. oops.. I give another turn on the wheel.. and my mind flies away over the soft reflection of the moonlight. The sea is calm with long ocean swells and silent, the noises we hear are the squeeky wooden interior constructions and ropes hitting the mast. Sometimes my mind is playing tricks on me and makes me think to hear a bell of a church or birds singing. I realize that after 21 days of hearing only sea relating noises, I miss the sound of land.

In my second night watch (0500-0600) when I come to switch watches with Katleen, we were treated with a most beautiful sunrise. We both kept on gazing towards a color changing sky. What a spectacle. I think to hear a sound of birds and I look around without seeing anything. It’s my mind again.. and I gaze into the horizon which is changing from grey to bright red and orange colour.
Suddenly the sound becomes stronger and appears closer to the boat, and Katleen shouts: It’s Dolphins! I count them.. more than 20. In group they playfully made their way over the swell towards the Blue Moon. They came to say good morning and continued their journey towards the sunrise. Unreal.

After my watch I decided to stay awake and let myself be seduced by Sergio’s scrambled eggs while gazing into the beautiful swell, taking in the breathing of the ocean without any winds. It was a good choice ;). After a good, long and needed nap afterwards, I shortly showed up on deck to say good morning to the crew with my sleepy head and Thalita brought me quickly back to reality: “Lis, it’s time to climb the mast to fix the Genakker’s halyard, the trade winds will be back tomorrow, and we want to fly the kite to St Lucia!”

Although my sleepy face didn’t show it, I was very looking forward to changing perspectives, climb onto that mast and enjoy a new experience from above! The whole team was called on deck to support this new venture, Wayne and Sergio on the winches to pull me up, Mathias briefing me on the work that needs to be done on top, securing me and prepping me mentally for the journey. And up I went! I practically flew up, with all that men power grinding away. Thalita was doing her best to stabilize the boat, but with such a swell it was pretty difficult. So I swayed left and right quite a bit and had to hold on quite tightly and focus in order to get the job done. I had to put a new shackle in place for the Genakker Halyard, because the dyneema soft shackle broke. And when I was there anyways I did a double check-up and found that the tricolor navigation light came loose, and I taped it. The topping lift was shaved and also taped it. Done!

I took a moment to look around and surprisingly saw the curvature of the ocean, the breathing longs of the ocean’s beast, the new green color of the Atlantic and our tiny (from my point view) Blue Moon and it’s crew. It made me realize how small we really are and I felt very humbled. How we managed to stay afloat the 7 of us on such a tiny surface for 21 days?! I was taking it all in to remember it forever. I quickly took some snapshots with the GoPro and was ready to get down again.

After several rig checks to prep the boat for the last leg towards St. Lucia, and a Brotzeit lunch with tuna-egg salad, there were still no trade winds in sight and this meant we could for the very last time enjoy a deep blue swim again. Ahh the joys of feeling the ocean water around your body. Heaven. We sunbathed, showered, washed clothes, read books, sketched, slept, while the Blue Moon was drifting with its storm sail over the ocean swell.

Sergio ended - probably this last - chill day on this ocean, with a mushroom artichoke risotto, served at sunset. Topped off with tea and chocolate for everyone we entered a starry night again and searched for star constellations and shooting stars. The storm jib was put down, the pole and jib put back in place, and the Blue Moon and its crew was ready to welcome the trade winds once again with open arms. Fly us to St. Lucia!

PS: as I’m writing this blog I’m in my night shift again with Katleen and I can report that the main sail is up, we have steady 10-13 knots of wind and hopefully tomorrow morning we can hoist the Kite!

Thankful hugs,
Lies