Journal Entry - May 30, 2008 - Two Zone Bar Day

Author: Pam

It is a two zone bar day when the wind is over 30 knots and the waves have been kicking our butt. It's a two zone bar day when the entire boat is wet due to waves that keep smacking Starship from all directions sending gallons of water into the cockpit and subsequently down below. It's a two zone bar day when the pots on the stove would be looking at you and washing the dishes would require the hands of Scott, myself and an octopus to keep the clean and dirty dishes from flying all over the cabin. So, what have we had to eat today? Zone Perfect is one of our sponsors and upon his return to Australia Scott brought 900 zone bars through customs (it's a good thing he had a nice customs agent or I might have had to bail him out for smuggling nutrition bars). Zone bars are a nutrition bar that boasts a balance of protein, carbohydrates and fat. I'll leave it to your imagination where and how you stow 900 nutrition bars on a 39' boat. Today we were grateful for them and I am sure it won't be the last time.

Last night was a long night. The wind steadily increased to over 30 knots and the seas got bigger and more confused. The boat was already wet every where you walk, sit, put something down and by morning water was even dripping on me in bed. During my watches I sat on the small bench in the back cabin so I didn't have far to go when it was time to check the radar. Unfortunately, we discovered soon after corralling the fenders that they were not the cause of whatever was cracking sharply on the boat right over the bed. It was too dark and there was way too much white water rushing past the boat to investigate further, all we could do was pray it wasn't something that would cause us a big problem and endure the smack smack of it, all night.

This morning, the first chore was to find out what had tortured us throughout the night. After a brief investigation Scott exclaimed, "I know what the problem is (funny everything is always a problem) and life just keeps getting more interesting aboard Starship." Starship has a rubber rub rail and the Tasman Sea had managed to rip the port side portion off, now only still being held on at the bow and the stern. We heaved to and pulled it on board like a big blue snake. It is now tied to the life lines and on the project list when we reach New Caledonia. We got sailing again and I looked out the window and noticed one of the lines from the mast was lying on the deck. My fear of another fouled prop on the Tasman (that was one of our adventures from NZ to Oz) had us heaving to again and Scott on deck for the seventh time in two days.

Today has been one of those days at sea where you just couldn't do much of anything. We basically just sat in our own respective wet worlds, checked the weather every few hours and waited for the wind to ease as the weather map keeps promising. We are sailing close hauled and working really hard to make progress towards Koumac, the wind and the waves are not our friend.

I am writing this journal entry while I am on watch tonight. At the moment I am sitting at the nav station trying not to fall off the seat on to the floor as Starship either jumps over, crashes into or is crashed into by this powerful sea. Every few seconds I have to stop typing and just hang on. The wind is still over 30 knots consistently and I have seen gusts as high as 44 knots. We have been going through squalls for the past few hours, it has been pouring, we continue to get hit by waves that send a torrent of water throughout the boat and I just went up to check the radar and saw a flash of lightening. The floors and flat surfaces now have puddles and I am getting dripped on sitting here. It has been two very challenging and exhausting days. It hasn't been scary, well a couple of waves made my hair stand up and I don't like lightening, but mostly it has been uncomfortable. Starship was designed as an off-shore charter boat, primarily used for island charters. Some of her charter features while good for entertaining two families aboard present some challenges that are new to us at sea. For instance, two companionways, a galley that goes straight across the starboard side and a really big cockpit. We are finding we still have so much to learn about Starship, for one how to stay dryer in big seas. I have two more hours before I go off watch, I hope if I can go to sleep when I wake up the sun will come out and start to dry out this very soggy boat.