Author: Pam
As the saying goes, "what a difference a day makes." Saturday we were tearing along close-hauled making 6-7 knots into moderate seas, basically that equals walking on the walls. It was definitely a Starship tutorial for what is more difficult when the boat is heeled on a port tack. First of all, I am not a boat designer but it seems to me if you are going to have a boat with two heads, one port and one starboard would be something to consider. Starship has two heads and they are both on the port side of the boat. Therefore, if you are on a port tack that puts both of them on the high side of the boat, which presents its challenges to say the least, I'll spare the details.
Now, the galley is on the starboard side, which we already knew would make cooking more of an Olympic event. However, we did finally discover why there was a constant puddle behind the galley sink. When I turned on the faucet to wash the lunch dishes I watched the water go everywhere, but in the sink. After we considered several ideas including using the foot pump (which water just poured out of due to the heel of the boat) we settled on flattening out the boat. Scott trimmed the sails for a reach, which allowed most of the water to end up in the sink and probably only took moments off our ETA.
Other than cooking and dishes, some email concerning our arrival in Australia, my day was focused on getting from one place to another on the boat without another bruise. Starship has more wide-open spaces than our little Tournesol. My night was spent watching huge white-topped waves rush by the cockpit window while Starship surfed along. After the rush of being on my first watch I was very much looking forward to my first sleep. I crawled into bed, which Scott had just vacated, and was instantly holding on for dear life to not end up on the floor. You guessed it the bed is in on the port side of the boat. I am still in awe that Scott did not land on his head, because I felt I needed Gumby's arms and legs to stay in bed. Well, after a few minutes of practically hanging off the edge it became clear the lee cloth was in order. Fortunately there is one under the bunk and after a few minutes of knot tying I was ready to crawl into my new cocoon and Scott was serenading me with the Gumby theme song. Pretty scary the things he knows sometimes. I still slept on the edge, but at least with the piece of mind I was going to stay in the bed. We didn't need to use lee cloths on Tournesol until the last few days of the passage from Tonga to New Zealand. Starship does not have amidships sleeping options, unless you sleep in the cockpit, which in warmer conditions could be very nice. This was definitely the most exhilarating day so far and I think we did well in our Starship 101 class.
Sunday morning the wind clocked from South to South South East, ahhhh downwind. The boat flattened out, the seas calmed, the sun came out, we were averaging 6 knots and it was a beautiful and very comfortable sailing day. After we both napped in the morning ( we didn't get much sleep due to the challenge of staying on a deep down wind point of sail and Gumbyitis) we were quite productive. We spent the late morning respectively reading the manuals for all of our Raymarine instruments, radar and GPS. There are many options for settings and features that we have not explored yet. We had grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch; I like that lunch because Scott is the cook and the grilled cheese connoisseur. Actually he is the connoisseur of anything that involves melted cheese.
We then decided to take advantage of the calm seas and take a shower, well not to mention it had been four days. Some of you may recall the showering routine on Tournesol happened in the cockpit using a modified insect sprayer. She had a shower in the head, but we never used it for various reasons, one being water conservation. Both of Starship's heads are also showers and with a working water maker we have decided that is the way to go. We do have a solar shower on board, but we donated our beloved bug shower to a new home right before leaving Opua (Scott took its' picture first). The seas remained calm for a relaxing dinner of sautéed chicken, veggies and baked potato. I was looking forward to settling in for a much calmer night when Scott suggested "let's jibe to a starboard tack for the night…" What a difference a few minutes make…
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