Pacific Cup: Strange Days/Are We Ourselves?

We have had several days of 1 hour on/1 hour off and shared night watches when things became more difficult than normal. Sleep deprivation plays with your mind. Our brains try to make sense of the endless horizon by making clouds look like the SF cityfront or add masthead lights that look just like we are parked off Saba Rock (BVI) Torben and Judy. Spinnaker sheets look like eels, shadows like people.

Being underway at sea, the boat is quite noisy (some more than ohters). You can hear the ocean rushing by the hull, the bang of a cross wave, the creaking of the mast, the hum of the rudder, and the squeak of the tiller (and sadly, at times, the slatting of the sails when there is no wind). We both have mentioned that we thought someone was talking or laughing or that a foreign radio station was playing. Clearly this is not the case. Or is it??

Helming at night with a cloud covered sky ( or a massive black squall), you can become disoriented and steer in the wrong direction. Sometimes, it feels as if you are going in circles. Again, this is not the case (except for my intentional windhole donut many days back).

At 0400, waking up for watch after maybe one hour of sleep, you forget where you are and just want to stay in bed. It takes a few minutes to get our brains in gear and get back to work. The trippy dreams don't help. I'm sure Freud would have a field day with mine.

At night, when you do see an object, such as a fishing boat, it takes awhile to really assess what it is. Are the lights actually there? How many boats? How big? Maybe there really is a Mid-Pacific Starbuck's barge (LOL)? We heard that Rim Pac is currently underway (think: Battleship), so we are especially keen not be to shot out of the sea.

As a side note, we still haven't showered. It's a good thing there isn't smell-o-vision.

The boat is relatively dry inside(from my Team California days, I have specialist bilge skills). Outside is another story. War Pony is all cockpit and when you are planing, quite a firehose of spray pours over the bow. I previously have said that sailing in the Southern ocean is like sailing through Hell's washing machine - but sailing War Pony is like sailing INSIDE Hell's washing machine.

Tonight for dinner will be Backpacker's Pantry Jerk Chicken with rice. I keep telling myself that everything tastes better at sea (except for cabbage)....

Nearly there, Team War Pony

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