Alexander Lang

Day 26

12:46 UTC-2, 13:54.926N, 48:45.030E

The trade winds stopped training. We are doing a mere 3.5 knots, and that in the wrong direction - too far south. It’s unbelievably hot in the boat and on deck the sun is burning down on us. Everyone is just sitting around trying not to move more than necessary.

15:04 UTC-2

No wind. We have turned on the engine. Let’s hope it does not stay on for too long. The weather news on the Navtex don’t sound very promising though.

19:12 UTC-2 13:57.239N, 49:12.369E

Engine still running. We stopped it during dinner though. Made leftover burritos again, everyone complained about not having had enough. I take that as a compliment. We had a bit of an argument over which can opener is better. The one that cuts away the complete top of the can or the one that only cuts into the lid? After almost completely destroying a can by trying to open it with the former I think the argument is settled :) Not calling any names.

It’s getting dark, which is nice because temperature is going down to a bearable level. Clouds all around us make for an interesting looking sky, but why don’t they bring any wind? Or showers?

Again going a bit into background information, here is a typical day on board (midnight to midnight):

00:00: Trying to sleep but it’s either too warm or too strong waves. Check watch regularly to make sure I don’t oversleep my next watch. Get up at 01:40, put in contacts, find something to eat (head torch ftw) 02:00: Night watch until 4:00. Really tired,meat cookies and listen to music to stay awake. Check the bolts on the wind steering every 15 minutes. Depending on weather help out the wind steering or reset it from time to time. 04:00: Go back to bed, hoping to find sleep now. 08:00: sun is up, i.e. it’s getting warmer, chances of waking up 09:00: wake up but stay in bed, open the hatch to get some air 10:00: finally get up because I’m hungry and don’t want to lie in my own sweat any longer. Bathroom, try to wash a bit using as little water as possible. Realize my next watch starts now. Start watch without breakfast. Again sit in the cockpit for two hours and make sure we go in the right direction. 12:00: Look at the watch schedule and count the days until we arrive. Find something to eat, usually hard baked bread plus something. Find that’s it’s way to warm so back to bed. Type something into the diary, browse through books and read a bit or listen to music. 14:00: Hungry again. Most of us are. The one most hungry starts to roam the kitchen for something edible and hopefully prepares something small for everyone (scrambled eggs, creative leftovers…). If not go to kitchen and find something that I can combine with hard baked bread. 15:00: Sit in the cockpit for a bit with no T-Shirt to reduce the contrast between lower arms and chest. Leave the cockpit because of too much sun, sit in the saloon instead where it’s 35 degrees C. 16:00: Realize it’s my turn to cook dinner. The upside of this is that I get to skip my next watch which would be at 18:00. Roam the kitchen again. Discuss plans with other crew, then cook something else. Spend an hour at the stove heating up the saloon a bit more. Curse the damn waves, hold the pan all the time so that it keeps it’s contents. 17:00: Dinner time. We all sit down either in the saloon or the cockpit and eat. A lot. If it’s good dinner is usually one of the highlights of the day. 17:40: The one who cooks also has to wash the dishes. First wash with salt water, then rinse with fresh water to save water. We don’t really know how much water is left as there is no indicator for that. 18:30: Exhausted from dinner, sit around again. Write into the diary or read. 18:45: Set up Internet by strapping the satellite modem to the outside of the boat. Plug in cables, configure connections, sit at the entrance because the network cable is too short. Check emails, publish blog posts. 19:30: It’s getting dark. Either everyone except the watch goes to bed now or we sit together in the cockpit for a bit. 20:30 Time for bed. I won’t sleep for a while but the next watch is at midnight so I better get started. 23:40 Get up again. Bathroom, contacts, grab an apple, off to watch.

Time for bed now.