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DAY 56
Mon Apr 30 19:33:21
2007 UTC - 9 34.57 S - 174 39.28 E
We speeded through the
night sliding like a ghost of Dutchman, on the sea illuminated by
the lantern of the Moon. The hull trembled sometimes on the waves,
as if answering the rogue whistle of the wind, the wind generators
turned with a whistle, convincing us that the money spent on them
was not wasted, and the Mother Ocean moved us softly and with a
friendly roar She sang her song, while I sang with her ...
"And I only miss you
In this prison Zenek (B)
And I only miss you
you here, you here .. ."
We always miss something ... From causes known perhaps only to the
Creator, we can’t have everything at the same time, and it happens
like that maybe so we don’t stop wanting, and so that our dreams,
which are the cause of all that’s beautiful in us, live and grow
like wanted and loved children. I think that if God had to eat
something, then our dreams would be a sweetly baked duck with beets
for Him. (my favorite grub)
DAY 55
Sun Apr 29 19:21:15
2007 UTC - 9 15.91 S - 176 36.26 E
A moment ago a
beautiful sunny day started, we are coasting under a raffled main
sail, heading straight towards the northern tip of Australia. Luka rocks from side to side, like it usually happens on a course
with the wind, especially since the deck is a little overloaded, so
it rocks us, and the eastern "wind sings its melodies and the waves
are so white" (today sapphire with white tops).
At night the groaning pump of the autopilot forced me to throw down the
staysail, the wind hardened and was throwing us off course ... I
wish that the new autopilot, which was installed right before we sailed
out, will bring us back. As plan "B" and 'C" I have other autopilots,
but these are put together from used parts ... Yesterday I called
Ilawa, I talked for a moment with my brother, Mirek. He reminded me of a
joke I played on him when he visited me in Mexico. We were already a
good 100 miles from the shore, heading for Guadelupe Island, it was
a restless night, the wind started to blow a little, and then I said:"
You know Mirek, it’s actually also my first cruise, I never sailed
so far away from shore before..." Heheh. I still see his aghast face
... As a good omen we made plans to go through Panama onto Bahamas
after the cruise. We will find there some sheltered bay for diving
and cool some beer. Beata is finishing a diving course, as captain I
will be sending her to the bottom, for fresh lobsters for a
snack.
DAY 54
Sat Apr 28 18:22:03
2007 UTC - 9 4.00 S - 178 46.79 E
At night I got
up every hour, awakened either by the beer I drank the night before,
or some nightmarish dream, in which I sailed straight onto some
cliffs and when I tried to turn away, every time the steering wheel
fell from its axis, I then ran out onto the deck in order to loosen
the staysail in hopes that Luka will turn by itself, I would wake
up, check my surroundings and after a while this all started over. I
will never again pump myself so full of beer before sleep. In the
morning after the next nightmare in which the steering wheel tore
off, I was checking the horizon, and in the light of the moon, which
this night was like a lantern, in front of the prow I distinctly saw
the cliffs, onto which we were falling all night. Luckily we were
still far away from them, my eyes opened wide, my heart started
pounding, I turned on the radar and in the minute which it took to
warm up, I tried to figure out, glaring in the direction of the
cliffs, where in the devil did this island come from. It took me a
few long minutes before I woke up altogether and understood that
these nightmarish cliffs is actually a piece of a cloud creeping low
on the water, which in the light of the moon looked like ragged
cliffs ... I couldn’t sleep anymore, anyway it was already almost
morning, and in the meantime I would have to change tacks and
set the foresail to the left side, but I chose laziness so the wind
still inflated the foresail, maybe is only teasing me...
DAY 53
Fri Apr 27 144:44:40
2007 UTC - 8 45.40 S - 179 52.3 W
Today we saw a
castaway. He fell from a palm tree and now he’s disappearing in the
valleys of waves and drifts into the unknown. Who knows what fate
awaits him, maybe some wave will mercifully deposit him onto a sandy
shore and the drifting sphere will change into a slender
palm tree? The "short breath" of the generator disappeared as
mysteriously as it appeared (we’ll see for how long) now evenly and
regularly the little diesel turns the generator and (omitting the
noise) makes a friendly atmosphere inside of the LUKA.
A few people asked me how I deal with sleep, so I have to say that I
deal with it very well, today I slept a little restlessly, but this
anxiety comes from being so close to shore. I got up, as usual, a
few times at night, checked the course, but sometime in the morning,
even though I usually don’t do this at night, I turned on the
computer and I checked the exact position, this was " blowing on
cold" . At night we were going 4-5 knots, we were 70 miles away from the nearest atoll. Even if the autopilot somehow failed
and all night we were heading straight for the island, it would be
visible on the horizon only during the day at lunch time.
Except for the moments when we approach the land, and in this cruise
we will avoid it, I sleep comfortably in my favorite sleeping-berth
sofa, between the support and the edge of the table, I dream about the land. When we remain near the shore longer, I
remain in the steering room and nap on the uncomfortable (too short)
bunk-seat, awakened every 15 min by the bell of the alarm, in these
instances I turn the radar on to the functions of "observer" It
turns on while I nap, scans the horizon a few times, and if it finds
nothing, it shuts itself off, and in 15 min it scans the horizon
again. There is enough of sleep, I just miss ice and the scent of a
certain woman.
DAY 52
Thu Apr 26 18:37:56
2007 UTC - 8 45.35 S - 178 32.98 W
Yesterday the wind
blew a little, we’re cruising outwardly on staysail. I
feel like I’m in cosmic space, soon we will pass between two planets
Funafuti and Fakulailai. I’m not used to land anymore, it wakes my
anxiety, I don’t miss it at all, it reminds me of sharp stones, the
bottom sliding anchor, with pirates, port thieves and public
officials just waiting for bribes. Here, away from it all, we are
safe. Not without reason the statistical data informs that 95% of
all ship wrecks take place after the entrance on the shoal ... In
the open sea only unlucky people drown, and this means that they
more or less chose such an exit, consciously or not. Many of this 5%
leave their yachts convinced that they are drowning, and the yacht
is found some weeks later, a little soiled, with torn up foresail,
and loaded sun batteries, generators ... In Port San Luis, some
frightened sailor was looking for a cruiser, which could rescue his
yacht, found by some fisherman, drifting a thousand miles west from
Morro Bay. Many sailors got rich bringing such lost yachts to port,
and in general after dealing with insurance companies, collected
round sums, or kept the yacht. The generator is under observation,
it looks like sometimes it collects air in the injection pump. After
de-airing it, it turns lively, but after a while it happens again...
The whole fuel system is new and I installed it personally, I
suspect a short coppery piece under the screw that airs the
injection pump. The future will show.
DAY 51
Wed Apr 25 18:24:47
2007 UTC - 8 26.24 S - 177 32.63 W
The generator coughs
up short breaths, it goes out after a few minutes. In the process of
changing the fuel filter, it became apparent that the person who
stole the soldering set from the LUKA when she was still in Port San
Luis, also stole the carton of fuel filters. I didn’t think to check
this before leaving, I was convinced that I have all the necessary
filters for both engines. I have no intention of getting upset about
this, whoever it is can have it, let’s say I gave them a present. I
will now change the generator filters more often, the ones that
clean the fuel on the ready, I have a large supply of them.
DAY 50
Tue Apr 24 18:01:24
2007 UTC - 7 58.63 S - 176 28.81 W
Nothing is happening,
yesterday I found the reason why the desalination pump was taking
on air, the wind came back to life a little, let’s hope that it’s
only its front guards.
DAY 49
Mon Apr 23 19:27:41
2007 UTC - 7 54.15 S - 175 21.45 W
Today I ran out of
eggs, I feel indescribable sorrow. This will start the period in my
life which I do not know yet. It’s true that I have about 1500 eggs
in powder, but they taste like a cheap prostitute consumed in a double condom
(from fear). I always eat eggs for breakfast,
during this cruise I ate them fried on butter, usually 8 – in a way
that’s made for little children, when I ran out of butter I released
my imagination and I used all the fresh vegetables which I had. From
the time I ran out of butter, my breakfast included 4 eggs over
easy, half of spam; comparable to our polish canned tourist meat but worse,
I slice it and brown it on both sides, one or two potatoes cut in
big pieces, onion and a few cloves of garlic fried whole. It became
apparent that fried garlic loses its "sting" and tastes like fried
onion, with a little echo of garlic. On the bottom of the plate I
put
the browned pieces of spam, on top of them brown potatoes, then the
fried onion with garlic and on top of it all, with yolks smiling at
me, were four (sometimes more) eggs. Oh well, I will try, even
though I know it will be hard, to pretend that they are still there
...
I will prepare it all as usual and I will imagine that they are
laying there cooked on the onions.
We’re waiting for decent wind.
Ps: It astonished me that almost nobody got the irony in my comment
about the “Krzysztof” fear. It looks like with I’m being too subtle
...
DAY 48
Sun Apr 22 18:35:29
2007 UTC - 7 46.72 S - 174 34.28 W
If Mother Ocean will
not compel this rotten wind to start blowing, it seems that this
will not only the first sail around the world under the Polish
flag, in the manner which we’re doing it, but also it will be record of the longest cruise of the world, where the average
speed doesn’t pass the speed of drifting wood...
DAY 47
Sat Apr 21 18:33:45
2007 UTC - 8 3.55 S - 173 46.10 W
Today I dreamt of a
sailing-ship, which had on deck little handles for spray
bottles containing fluid to wash the sails ... I woke up upset about
something, maybe by this dream ... Yesterday I took out the
fishing-rods from the water when the wind died, I did not want them
to get entangled again, today all that remains from them is lead and
hooks. Wacus was playing with them in the evening ... For some time
now, we have a fish pilot, it’s about 70 cm long, yellow-green, it swims
around the ship's side and is distinctly looking for something, or
maybe this is a gold fish, only shamed green…?
DAY 46
Fri Apr 20 18:49:04
2007 UTC - 7 37.40 S - 172 47.31 W
Yesterday evening the
wind came back and we’re moving slowly to the west, in the
direction of Torres Straits. On the way we’re going to have to pass
by a swarm of islands. Under other circumstances it would be great
to cruise between them, dive, eat spiny lobsters, crabs, oysters
(which add vigor, to but only for sailors) and exquisite fish from
the reef. We have all the diving gear, along with a compressor to
load the tank, and also a smaller compressor for diving in shallow
waters. I took it all with me, because I did not have place to
leave it. Luka is big, and we’re not racing, 100kg more does not
make any difference.. .When I think about the islands I play
“Szanta” (chant) in may head, sung in the thick, drunk voice of
“Ryba"
"I will smash my boarded up world
And from missing you I will build a boat
From island to island, day and night
I’ll go wherever my eyes will take me"
DAY45
Thu Apr 19 17:48:33
2007 UTC - 7 39.95 S - 171 26.85 W
Today is the
beach again; I’m only missing a friend with ice cream, the smell of
seaweeds and sun-tan oil. There are no smells here; we are too far
from it all. If one of these days we will smell something - first
surely Wacek, it will mean that the coast is not far. Yesterday even
the dolphins were sunbathing, they were too far away to take a
picture with my cheap camera, but looking through my binoculars I
distinctly saw them laying on the water, almost not moving, they
turned slowly on their own axis, one of them jumped up vertically
from the water but half-way up it was like he changed his mind and
returned down the same way. In the morning the wind started to blow
a little, we’re heading due west. There is a shower on the horizon,
a dark cloud with a large amount of warm water. The autopilot cried
out with a thin beep, lost its course, the wind died again ...,
maybe there’ll be some wind from this coming shower...
DAY 44
Wed Apr 18 19:36:18
2007 UTC - 7 56.19 S - 170 42.68 W
It’s beach weather,
it’s too bad Beata isn’t here, I would gladly and without a hurry
cover all of her in sun-tan oil, and later.. .. ... I would make her
a drink with a big chunk of ice which, hopefully she would bring ...
Even though I chose an energetic rigor for myself; I decided
nevertheless to turn on the refrigerator when loading batteries. If
the wind does not pass 20 knots (if it is strong, the wind
generators supply the batteries) I load the batteries once a day for
1 - 1.5 hours. The beer which fills my refrigerator has a chance to
cool off a little then, and this “little" dramatically
changes my outlook on a few cold cans waiting for me each evening,
as compensation for the heat of the day. Life is beautiful:))
DAY 43
Tue Apr 17 20:40:29
2007 UTC - 8 5.65 S - 169 56.19 W
Yesterday's fears
caused me to develop intellectual hiccups; I hiccup with the “Old
boy” fear of death all the time. It turns out that the older a
person is, the more they fear this "black girl". To look at this
logically, the one who should be more afraid of the meeting with the
“black one” must be the one who has more to lose, therefore someone
young. The actual truth is that young people are fearless in the
face of death ...Maybe because they are nearer the beginning they
instinctually remember the element of universal truth, of which
Jesus also spoke, and which in His words sounded something like this
- ." .. The one who fears for his own life will not live long, and
the one who does not care about his own life will live long .. ."
And maybe youth is too blind to see the unavoidable passing of all
things, human life included. It is rumored that most people only
begin to realize that they will die someday when they are around 40
yrs old. Many cultures promote the so called “Good circumstances” to
accompany this transformation, as if this moment was the last
play-off, the outcome of which can decide the whole game.
The moment in which the "Black Lady" finally comes, as long as one
does not wait for her with clenched fists, can change into a
definite victory. From the standpoint of a Catholic, a good death is
a death in the act of sacrifice, however omitting the relativity of
good and bad as terms, in the "play-off" most people come up against
their own fear, this animal instinct, which Mr. Krzysztof Baranowski
so eloquently wrote about.
If we agree that the world is dual, and that on one side is love and
its subjects, and on the other fear and its subjects, and if we
understand that the aim of each human being is to learn how to love,
then the defeat in the "play-off” can mean a "wasted” life (although
nothing can really be wasted here ...)
The people who sincerely have faith are not afraid of the "play-off",
because their deep belief guarantees that they will find themselves
in the area of Divine love. Much worse off in the "play-off" are
those, who are intelligent enough to negate the old tale about God,
but not conscious enough to see past the apparent wall of chaos and
perceive the ideal divine order of mutually universal laws. Winning
in the "play-off” has an essential meaning also because while dying
we go where we think we’ll go, and for some time (even though time
does not exist there) we will spend in our paradise or in our hell
...
In the end, even without binoculars we can see the truth "swimming”
beside us, that it isn’t important if the “black lady" will grasp us
on the highway, on the sea, or because of cancer... – what’s
important is only the "play-off”.
And indeed at the end, I will remind - as a main course today, the
most beautiful words that Jesus gave us, and that for some reason
didn’t make it into any of the four gospels -
"You are the perfect day, and the light that you have inside of you
will never go out .. " (discretionary translation).
Besides that, the wind is non-existent, we’re turning around in a circle
...
DAY 42
Mon Apr 16 18:50:51
2007 UTC - 8 6.69 S - 169 5.02 W
Yesterday I read a
book by
Krzysztof Baranowski titled ‘The second time around the world”.
I was curious how he was dealing with his last cruise in Strait
Torres, which we’re slowly approaching. I was moved by the paragraph
in which this famous sailor described his fear. The description is
so ideal that when I concentrate on it, the skin on my head gets all
prickly and if I had any hair on it they would be standing on end.
And here is what it says: “.. .I forgot this fear already, this
animal and all-consuming fear, that sticks the shirt to a sweaty
back, dries out the mouth, closes the throat in a silent scream" .
It is said that great fear hides great heroism; I did not expect
however, that sailing can be so scary. Mr. Krzysztof, you drove me
to a solid fear, as however I’m naturally brave, I only took a few
whisky bottles for this cruise, counting that yes, sometimes
something will "grab me by the throat", but for what is about to
happen now, I will need a case...
Wacek lies on the prow and from the shade spies on birds with one
eye, Luka coasts lazily on one sail exhibited with boom, and when we
rock from side to side (it’s a flaw of cruising with the wind) the
sail flaps sometimes and makes sounds when it again fills with the
wind, maybe it also does not like this rocking..
DAY 41
Sun Apr 15 17:11:50
2007 UTC - 8 7.04 S - 167 25.08 W
Yesterday a block with
a line fell to the deck that, before this sad event, was used for
lifting and maneuvering the sail boom. I have to admit that it was
me who screwed up while I was still in Ensenada, when I was
repairing the line block system for maneuvering the boom which I got
from my friend Ken - (bless him always for this with the wind on his
back). I did not tighten the shackles strong enough, standing
uncomfortably on little rungs attached to the mast. You need both
hands to do this work, while I had to hold on to the mast with
one... Now I will have to wait until the Mother Ocean falls asleep,
and with the boatswain's pew, climb the rungs to the mast, then
secure the chair, sit on it, (I hope it will sustain my 150kg) and
this time using both hands tighten the new shackle with a block ...
Uf .. .. I already feel the shiver of all muscles and fear ......
DAY 40
Sat Apr 14 18:12:03
2007 UTC - 8 8.82 S - 165 42.96 W
After midday, from the
west, we were chased by a giant, almost black cloud ... It hid the
greater part of the horizon. It moved like Jenghiz Khan with its
army, sending its front guards here and there, wrinkling the water
in some places. I took down the staysail, it moved us a little, but
the autopilot pump gave an occasional sad groan trying to keep Luka
on course. I reefed in the mainsail, I took off the unneeded in this
fight shorts, I brought soap and now we were ready for the
acceptance of this wet bandit. The cloud was so big and dark that
every few moments I turned my head in the opposite direction, in
order to make sure that this black ugly thing did not cover the
whole sky. After a moment it started to advance faster and I could
already see a wall of rain which it pushed in front of it.. And then
she hit with a violent wind as if with a hammer and then it started
to pour. With the soap clenched in my left hand I felt completely
safe. When the first fury elapsed, I loosened all muscles and
slowly, like a man who knows exactly what to do, I soaped my entire
body. I put away the soap and waiting for the second attack, without
emotion, I wondered if it will treacherously change direction. After
a moment I saw that it will hit from the same side. I directed the
most soaped up part of my body into it, I seized the stays with both
of my hands.. .I waited.... It came, hit us with a wall of water and
wet everything in its way. It lasted for a good hour, and then it
went away taking with it my weekly, mixed with soap, sweat, as well
as other weekly wastes… I cried out in farewell – come back in a few
days, just during the day, or else...
DAY 39
Fri Apr 13 17:26:47
2007 UTC - 8 2.82 S - 163 40.48 W
It’s hot; it is so hot
that it’s really hot... I changed the oil in my generator, I have to
take care of my little sorcerer, who does make some noise, but every
evening fills the yacht with light and human voice. I use the
occasion to turn on the television and watch a dvd, yesterday it was
"Stargate”. After the exchange I had the old oil and filter left
over, of course the simplest thing would be to throw it overboard,
but if I pour this into the transparent sapphire water I would feel
like a murderer. So I folded the old filter in a few “ziplock” bags,
and I poured the dirty oil into a gallon container... It will remain
with us while we cruise the rest of the world.
At night it started to rain and along came a strong wind. This time
however we were prepared and it found us with a reefed down
mainsail, it screamed and groaned a little, and taking the rain with
it went away...
DAY 38
Thu Apr 12 17:52:22
2007 UTC - 8 5.43 S - 161 47.26 W
Some sea creature with
sharp teeth ate all the bait and again the cables I reel in, in the
hopes that Mother Ocean will donate some fish, present a sad sight,
all twisted and tangled. It had to have been some skunk shark
because at the end of a very bulky line was fastened a 3mm steel
cable with bait, and the cut is so straight as if cut with a
guillotine. Surely I could catch something if I was nearing the
islands, but this would mark the end of my peace. I’ll put on new
bait and I will call on the visualization method to bring me some
fat piece of fish with little teeth, or maybe I can throw some
canned meat overboard and trade with Neptune... Yesterday I read
reports..... .. ..., of
Baranowski, boys from Panorama and..... .. ...and of the Strait
of Torres. From their report and from the map it seems that it’s
very tight there, a lot of stones and very strong current ... I have
the candid intention to take a few tablets so I don’t sleep and take
it in one stride. Maybe I can stop right before the entrance to the
strait, on anchor, sleep a lot, then I will pass through it if the
conditions will be on my side (of course they will) in -+ 24 hours.
This our introductory plan.
8*05'225” S
161*42'823" W
COG 270*
SOG 5nm
DAY 37
Wed Apr 11 17:35:33
2007 UTC - 8 4.53 S - 159 52.18 W
Today at night the
lights did not fly ... They must have lost me ..:), but about 3 am
the wind started to blow, it blew about 30 knots, I was wondering if
the old mainsail which we’re carrying for a few days now will
sustain the gusty wind. I could take it down, but I knew that this
was only squall, that it can’t be too strong here and that soon it
will go elsewhere... Besides, I wondered, feeling some excitement,
if the sail would hold.. I have a better understanding now how much
I can get away with when it comes to the sails ... Sometimes we were
going about 10 knots. Navigating at that speed did not bring me any
pleasure, I imagined a great hole in the trunk if we would hit a
drowned container, or some giant log washed off from a general cargo
ship ... Comfort returns only when the squall subsides and Luka
returns to the charming 5- 6 knots. Then I’m bound to the
sleeping-berth and in the arms of Beata already waiting for me at
the other side of consciousness...
DAY 36
Tue Apr 10 17:53:03
2007 UTC - 7 58.75 S - 158 5.29 W
At night a warm
downpour, like a shower, washed off the equatorial heat from us, and
then we budged with the speed of "a horse plucking grass" , which in
comparison with the speed of "a turtle going on an undesired date”,
(which is the speed we experienced lately) is a cause of the crew’s
good humor. I’m writing this with a certain reserve, but it looks
like I saw a UFO. About a week ago I stood half-way out of the
steering room and with a beer in my hand I was watching the stars,
when first from the corner of my eye, then completely, I saw a
strong light, stronger than the brightest star which moved about 30
degrees above the horizon so quickly that I could barely keep up
watching it. This phenomenon seemed contradictory to what I know
about astronomy, but because I know little, I left this problem for
later ... Three days ago, I saw this light again, it behaved like
the previous one, but this time it was pinkish in color and it was
visible longer, and just like the first one it was going at a great
speed. Yesterday at night I looked at the Cross of Midday and again
out of the corner of my eye I saw a bluish light. My first thought
was that it was a signaling pistol, but such signals do not fly
horizontally and I do not think they sell them in blue ... I scanned
the horizon with the radar, for 36 miles the ocean was empty ...
Maybe it’s an astronomical phenomenon that I’m not familiar with ...
However, if you ever notice a lack of reports from me, it could mean
that I was kidnapped by this mysterious “something” and I may come
back pregnant ...
DAY35
Mon Apr 09 17:22:40
2007 UTC - 7 42.39 S - 156 49.91 W
The wind is
"non-existent" , but we are moving slowly to the west ... The
current is giving us a little push, a little anemic sigh of the
trade wind that here should be about 15 knots. We’re passing in
between two islands, Starbuck Island to the north and on Penrhyn to
the south. These are actually atolls screened by the reefs and a
narrow strand of sand to the north, with narrow entrances from the
south. This more or less is what paradise would look like for us ...
There’s probably no fresh water there but the Luka can produce
70+liters/hour. It has to be beautiful there, at the next
trip we will stop there for sure. A moment ago we were
visited by dolphins, but as usual I was not able to take pictures..
This time the batteries died, and the ones in the charger are not
charged yet ...
DAY 34
Sun Apr 08 17:10:20
2007 UTC - 7 42.33 S - 156 24.05 W
Complete boredom, I was so bored that I was watching the
flying fish today, there’s less of them when there’s no wind... I
drank yesterday evening. I was sitting out on the deck (can’t sit
inside) and after the second glass it hit me how beautiful the
reflection of the stars was on the water and how infinite they are.
Unfortunately, I am only able to find the big dipper and the north
star, so I just looked at them like an idiot with my mouth gaped
open.. I have the program "Virtual Planetarium" somewhere, which I
got from Leszek vel Buddek; I should turn it on sometime. There is
especially this one star, which rises WWN , to the west
and a little towards the north. It is very bright, it glimmers with
many colors, from dark-blue to pink and I could swear that she
smiled at me yesterday ... Because Luka was turning round and round
all night, the fishing-rods got extremely tangled around the
propeller screw .. I’m going to take care of that once I find the
courage ...
Ps. Thanks to all for the holiday wishes .. ..I also wish you joyous
and happy holidays
DAY 33
Sat Apr 07 17:02:16
2007 UTC - 7 44.01 S - 155 55.76 W
Again silence, at
night I took down the rest of the sails, they rubbed against the
stays with an unpleasant sound. After this Luka moved its side to
the dead wave and we’re rocking, right to left, side to side. It’s
a good opportunity to check if everything inside the yacht is well
attached. We corrected our west course, we will remain in the
neighborhood 10*S if nothing drives us away.
DAY 32
Fri Apr 06 16:55:30
2007 UTC - 7 16.26 S - 154 45.55 W
The wind disappeared
somewhere, it’s hot, Wacek pulls out the dried out, stinking fish
ex-flying, from some corners of the deck, he bites them, then comes
and licks me ... I got burned by the sun yesterday, the sun is
unmerciful here .. I forgot to put on my shirt, now I’m in pain, but
it’s a pain I deserve, it’s not accompanied, at least, by the sense
of unfairness ... What I could use right now is Beata’s gentle hands
and aloe ... I have a craving for fresh fish, I wonder whether I
should come nearer to one of the atolls, because this far from the
shore the fish do not bait, only then the peace will end.. Maybe I’d
rather open the canned food...
DAY31
Thu Apr 05 17:55:56
2007 UTC - 6 59.40 S - 153 27.68 W
Nothing happened
that’s worth writing about, besides that all is fine
DAY 30
Wed Apr 04 16:35:51
2007 UTC - 5 25.63 S - 152 0.64 W
The wind came back to
us today, but it brought with it a lot of moisture. It’s so hot and
humid, that even a few minutes of work on the deck ends in a bucket
of sweat and pulsating temples. Yesterday I drank a weekly supply of
beer and in the breaks between fastening the center line, the
transportation of the sail boom to the other side etc..I was cooling
off with a little fan I found somewhere in the engine room. Soon the
peace will end, we will enter the area of hundreds of islands, and
it will be necessary to navigate among them, and with that will come
the stress not to damage any of them...
DAY 29
Tue Apr 03 17:17:29
2007 UTC - 4 8.21 S - 151 0.04 W
Don't praise the day
before twilight or wife while she lives... Yesterday I was naively
charmed by the wind on this width, today we float on a dead wave,
and the pots are flying about the kitchen. Luka rocks from side to
side as if drunk, Wacek looks comically when he marches in
inclination of 30 degrees to the floor. Fish still do not take and
the beer is warm, the dolphins visited us again, this time it was
still light but it’s difficult to use the digital camera, with this
damn delay, and catch an opportune moment... Next time I will use
the video camera, maybe then I can select the right frame on the
computer...
DAY 28
Mon Apr 02 18:04:43
2007 UTC - 2 1.13 S - 149 52.41 W
The world on
this side is not much different than on the other. Besides, the
water in the toilet is spinning to the left. Different than on the
northern hemisphere.
I was thinking how to get to 10 degrees faster... I was going as far
south as possible, but mama ocean likes us and the wind is nice and
moving us to the west.
I have a lot of books on the boat which unfortunately is forcing me
to turn on the inverter. Thanks to my friend Przemek, I have the
software Expressivo which 'reads' text. All day yesterday, I was
converting textbooks to mp3 files using beautiful 'Agata's' voice.
DAY 27
Sun Apr 01 18:27:34
2007 UTC - 0 0.34 S - 148 28.09 W
Soon we will cross the
equator and I have the big, thick envelope from my German friend
Paul which I "can open after we cross". I was expecting to some
instruction and some funny, sailor rituals. This is old sailor
tradition, when the crew dresses-up as Greek gods. Those who cross
the first time are 'tortured' and their heads are shaved with a big
razor. No, nothing of it... but... we have Wacek... He is virgin too
and never crossed the equator. Poor Wacek, he would remember it for
the end of his dog life. And he would never go out on the deck
again...
When I opened the sealed envelope, I saw 'Hustler, Magazine for
Gentleman'. Paul is good. This is a good gift, in this geographical
location.
Counting down..5,4,3,2,1... position 00’00*000 N
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