I’ll soon have been at sea for a whole week, by far my longest non-stop voyage, and have settled into a nice easy routine. I normally get up around 8, or nearer 9 if I’m feeling lazy, but don’t forget I’ve been up every two hours during the night to update the log, trim the sails, and check that I’m not about to be run over, so I’m allowed the occasional lie-in.
My first priority is breakfast, which consists of tea, orange juice, and a bowl of mixed cereal, normally Special K, Grape Nuts and Alpen. I eat this in the cockpit while soaking up the sun, gradually coming to life as the morning warms up.
By 10 I’m usually ready to tweak the sails, shaking out the reef I always put in at night in case of sudden squalls and unfurling the whole genoa if the wind permits it. I then spend some time steering by hand trying to get a feel for the boat as I’ve never sailed a ketch before, and using the mizzen to balance the other sails is a new art to me. Close-hauled it doesn’t really do a lot, but then I was always taught that gentlemen never go to windward as it’s far too uncomfortable and one doesn’t want to spill one’s G&T. Nor do gentlemen go astern, but I’m afraid I broke that rule the other day, albeit inadvertently.
All this effort usually tires me out by 11 so I find a sunny spot to recline in comfort and watch the ever-changing pattern of waves, or I might read if I can be bothered. At 12 I go below to tune in to the weather forecast, and then spend the rest of the hour before lunch writing my blog and catching up with emails.
Lunch is always at 1, come rain or shine, and consists of a bagel with brie, two tomatoes, and approximately 10cm of cucumber. An apple for dessert is optional, depending on whether I can summon up the energy to go all the way to the aft cabin where they’re hanging in a little hammock. Then comes my favourite part of the day – siesta time! I think there should be a siesta after every meal, and will make a point of promoting this idea when I get back to the UK.
Tea at 4 o’clock is followed by some more sailing and tweaking, and perhaps some more entertaining chores, such as cutting up pieces of paper and throwing them overboard. Before you gasp in horror and denounce me as an environmental terrorist I should point out that all my organic and biodegradable waste goes overboard, sometimes after being pre-processed in my digestive system. I consider paper and cardboard to be biodegradable, and by cutting everything up into small squares it breaks down much more quickly. And of course we all like cutting up pieces of paper, don’t we? Probably goes back to our childhood days of making papier-mache masks and the like.
I also cut up all my plastic waste to save space but don’t throw it overboard as that’s illegal. I separate it into recyclable and non, and also flatten all my tins and cans and store them separately, ditto for glass, all of which I can take for recycling when I get home. The net result is that I have only a very small amount of waste aboard which can’t be recycled, mainly the kind of plastic wrapping you get on biscuit packets and the like.
Anway, getting back to my routine, before supper I tend to any boat-type chores such as checking engine oil and water, fixing things that I broke in the night while stumbling around in the dark, and generally making myself useful. For supper I always stop the engine if motoring so I can have a little peace and quiet, and eat it in the cockpit as the sun sets. I allow myself one beer with my evening meal and have so far been very good at sticking to it, but I keep catching myself eyeing up my ample stocks of red wine so I wonder how long my resolve will last?
My evening meal varies but will typically be something like rice and beans, or maybe some pasta with a chunky vegetable sauce, or a stew of tinned vegetables and vegetarian mince substitute. If we’re sailing and the boat is rocking around I usually end up throwing half of it aound the galley, and then over myself while trying to eat it. After years of sailing I still haven’t mastered the art of anticipating waves while eating so many a forkful goes down my shirt or into my lap. Mind you, those who know me will know that I’m the same at home, so maybe I can’t blame the sea.
After supper I get everything ready for the night, including reducing sail and stowing all unnecessary items down below. Once it’s all tidy I settle down around 9pm and watch a film. While in Fort Lauderdale I rented lots of DVDs and recorded them all onto a large hard drive, so I’ve now got a collection of around 70 films to keep me going. I’m watching them in alphabetical order as I can’t remember what they all are just from the titles, and like the randomness of it.
By 11 I’m ready for my first snooze, waking at midnight and every two hours thereafter to come up on deck and check the sails, and look around for hazards. I also check the radar, make a log entry, and then crawl back into my bunk. If it’s calm I sleep right in the bow, if it’s a bit bouncy then I sleep in the pilot berth by the chart table as I’m less likely to get thrown about there.
And thus pass my days at sea. It’s all very pleasant so far, although today is a little frustrating as the gentle breeze is from the east to north-east, which is where I’m trying to go, so I’m only able to make a leisurely 4 knots in the wrong direction and will have to tack a few times to make Bermuda if it stays like this. The forecast promises westerlies about 50 miles to the east of me, so maybe by midnight I’ll have a more favourable wind. Anyway, it’s a nice gentle ride and the sun is shining over the blue sea so I’m certainly not complaining. I may well not arrive in Bermuda until the middle of next week now but that’s the nature of sailing. After all, if I’d wanted to get there quickly I’d have flown!