Sweet Spot

March 6, 2012

            It’s been high seas (up to 15ft) and high, fairly steady trade winds, blowing at about Force 6 out of the NE. This translates into an inability to stand in one place for more than about oh, 5 seconds. It’s a workout just standing up. I have become quite intimate with the bulkheads and railings around the ladders and have come to take the strange prancing swells throw me into in stride (hehe…in stride). Sometimes I’ll slide down a companionway all the way from the starboard side to the port side if my shoes or the soles are wet. A lot of people have been seasick the past couple days, but not me! I was very tired after our port stop, but I think that was partly because I needed to get reacquainted with boat time and the different sleep schedule. Now I find myself able to do activities other than sleep in between watches.

            My favorite on deck task is taking the helm, especially with the big swells. I love crashing through them and seeing the salty spray that results. I also love pointing Mama Seamans higher and higher into the wind, in a constant effort to find that sweet spot where her sails are full and her speed is constant. Steering used to be one of the things I was most intimidated by, but I’m getting more comfortable with it.

            Due to the high seas, things have been shifting in the reefer (refrigerator) and of course one of the food items to fall off the shelves were raw eggs, resulting in a bit of a scramble on the sole. This meant taking the mats out and I was left to scrub them. Yuck. At least there was only one, unlike the 4 galley mats, and I didn’t have to carry them up to the deck and below again. I swear, I have never been dirtier in my life than I get now. Though I shouldn’t be complaining: we are no longer soaked in sweat. Rather, salt spray has become the coater. I could probably salt my dinner with the amount dried on my rain jacket.