Day 2 of Leg 1: St Lucia to Santa Marta, Colombia
(Day 5 for the fleet)
Having focused all our excitement, energy and resources into leaving yesterday, we are 24 hours into the first leg and have now started wondering which one of us should shoulder the blame for thinking it was a good idea to sail round the world. (I’m certain it’s not me …… just sayin’!)
I guess we should have had an inkling when we left St Lucia in a lacklustre drizzle that seemed set in for some time, but in a bizarre break with tradition we have barely had a glimpse of Carribean sunshine or blue seas since we left. Instead we have been sailing through the most dismal conditions that I think I have seen since leaving the English Channel. Menacing rain clouds, pregnant with their watery load are constantly roiling overhead and dousing us with everything they have. Water is dripping everywhere, inside and out; the cockpit is saturated so we’ve retreated inside but now it’s raining through the saloon windows as well. Fortunately it’s so cold we can wear our wet weather gear inside.
To add to the misery we are sailing downwind but with an especially large swell coming from a different direction to the wind - and so Aqualuna is rolling like a pig. As we roll from port to starboard to port to starboard, every item that we so lovingly wedged into place and stowed with such care is crashing and caterwauling. The philharmonic racket from the kitchen cupboards is literally spectacular, making any chance of sleep (without the Archers at full volume on my AirPods - of course!) a distant ambition. Even without the racket the constant lurching and monsoon conditions make it pretty impossible anyway.
And when it comes to cooking - forget it! Even making a sandwich involves being hurled from one end of the galley to the other whilst the fridge attempts to vomit it’s contents over your head (urgh don’t mention vomit) - and then pinning down a slice of bread and trying to load it with cheese and tomato with one hand, whilst holding on for grim death with the other ….. without stabbing yourself with a kitchen knife at the same time.
Toilet? Let’s not even go there!
Ah well ….. only another 3.5 days to go but I’m telling you - this is the very last time I marry a sailor!
Posted by Claire