Monday, May 26, 2008

Journal Entry - May 25 & 26, 2008 - Every Sea Dog Has Her Day

Author: Scott

It is said that even the most salty old sea dog can wake up one day and become seasick. Well yesterday one of Starship's salty dogs had their day. Immediately after our departure festivities had melted into the routine of our first blue water passage since arriving in
Australia, I learned Pam's tummy had been hurting her all day. She began to feel nauseous and to develop a headache. I also noticed that she was taking on a nicely matching hue to her chartreuse fleece jacket. But probably the biggest telltale sign was her burping out loud later that evening. Pam just isn't the belching contest kind of gal, and she was letting them fly freely. We had both worn ourselves down with all the preparations for departure, and I think this mixed with lack of sleep due to voyage anxiety was the recipe for Pam's sudden onset of seasickness.

With Pam crook (as they say in Oz) I took on the first watch and covered a majority of the first night's watches. There was not much to report on for the first night, other than the freaky orange moon covered in my prior log-blog entry. The stars did come out for me. Sailing is almost the only time I can see starlight, and this mixed with the sound of the water rushing by is one of the most peaceful experiences I have had in my life. However, it's not all starlight and roses aboard a sailing vessel. With Pam down and months for every item aboard Starship to find a home to settle in, the boat became a sound scavenger hunt. Despite our best efforts to make the boat "sail-proof" we always find the forgotten battery rolling around in the nav station, or one of the few glass items on board manages to sneak off and find a solid metal item to pound itself upon, usually in the deepest darkest cupboard. Then there is the overall seaworthiness of the boat to assess. Much of my first night was spent crawling in the bilges, examining the engine room, trimming the sails, and with every new noise a new chore arose. I have often thought that sailing is truly a blind person's sport. Most issues aboard a boat present themselves to senses other than sight. For instance, if we have taken on water in the bilge, I can usually tell because the boat feels sluggish. If the wind has changed and the sails are out of trim, it is the sound of the flogging sail that sets me into action. Then of course if the dreaded engine makes even the slightest variance from its standard drone, every muscle tightens and I am on my way to the engine room. Pam and I are actually getting to the familiarity level where we can guess our current boat speed within .5 of a knot by just feeling the boats movement through the water. We are not always right, but we are usually very close.

Other than Pam's sudden attack of the sucky-yucky, the first night passed uneventfully. Most of the first two days maintained this pattern. On Sunday we were following a course of 085 True on a broad reach. This was not our ideal course but we were still entertaining the idea of making a "necessary maintenance stop" to
Lord Howe Island. We have heard so much about the island from our friend Tony that we very much wanted to give it a "sticky". However, when we asked the folks at Immigration about reentering an Australian territory with an expired visa, the answer that it would be "unlawful" was quite clear. Had we come up with a reason to conduct maintenance, we could have visited the island but with Pam under the weather, and the fear of incarceration, we eventually decided to sail on.

Thank god for Simon's pizza gift upon departure. We fed off the pizza for our first dinner, Sunday's lunch and a snack. Sunday dinner was also a windfall because Joyce had given Pam some pumpkin soup and we had squirreled it away for a convenient meal. By Sunday night pumpkin soup was even a stretch to consume for the patient. Pam was a trooper on Sunday night and kept up with the watch schedule. We had good wind on the starboard quarter and our second night passed peacefully.

Monday was more of the same. Pam slept and felt sick, while I kept up the boat maintenance, looked for new treats to eat, and tried to keep up with various voyage related projects. The Tasman was friendly to us and the sun was shining. I did manage to spend some time jamming to some tunes and catching some rays on the aft doghouse. I only mention this because people often think we lay around basking in the sun while at sea and this actually is a rarity. Today I basked! The highlight for the day was the wind shifting directions to the South allowing us to make a more northerly arc towards
New Caledonia. It almost felt like we were in the trade winds again, and today the wind was our friend. Our course for the day was 060 True and we sailed a deep broad reach.

Dinner was a yum-o-la stir-fry! It was gentle on Pam's tummy but still plenty tasty. Precooked
Singapore noodles are a must on any cruising boat. I topped off dinner with some "Forbidden Fruits", a lolly of the genus "Gummoolia Bearis" that we discovered in New Zealand.

The only other item of note; on Monday night upon waking during a sleeping period I was completely unaware of my surroundings. 'Where am I?' Then it hit me! You are on Starship, in the middle of the "Terrible Tasman Sea", sailing around the world - WOW - WEIRD - AWESOME!

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