June 5th: To the Marquesas

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Volpaia Time: 12:30
Zulu Time: 18:30
19 13 44 N
115 09.69 W

Speed: 8.3 knots
Wind: 11 knots 327 T
Course: 245 T
Seas: 3-4 ft
Crew: Alix helming, Liz on deck, Colby cleaning the galley, Brett on deck, Cyrus getting off watch, Shay cleaning galley.

Comments:

We are now on day 3 of the same tack. A "tack" is a general sailing term referring to the side of the boat that the wind is hitting and that subsequently causes the deck to heel over. I mention this because although many have undoubtedly experienced a sailboat heeling over for a few hours, or even an afternoon on the same tack, few have entered into what I like to call "sideways world". It is, after all, not just the deck that goes sideways but the entire vessel. Floors, walls, ceilings, refrigerator doors, beds, cabinets, and of course showers, are all sideways. Anything that is normally horizontal is either entered down into or up into. As you might imagine, this makes for quite interesting living. Actually, it is not uncommon to wake to find yourself pressed onto the wall more than on your mattress or to be showering with one foot on the shower floor while the other foot is wedged on the shower wall. If you're lucky, the shower will be oriented so that the water flows away from the wall and not onto it, although this usually means that you are partially standing on the shower door, and you can only guess how well the water drains. Food tends to enjoy flying straight at your face from within the depths of the fridge or from out of the cabinet you were peering into. Clothes, tools, pens and pencils, napkins, cups, plates, indeed everything you reach for seems to have an insatiable desire to jump forth with complete unpredictability, right at you, and sometimes with considerable force. This is life aboard Volpaia while she crosses a vast expanse of the Pacific ocean. The crew living aboard her constantly need one hand for bracing or balancing themselves, at all times, no matter what one might be doing (or opening). This means that we have all become quite adept at one handed tasks. Cooking, eating (one dish meals are quite popular), carrying, washing, showering, walking (or crawling) and even sitting all require one hand be firmly clutching a solid object that will prevent bodily flight with every lurch of the vessel and the likely messy end to whatever it was that you were doing. Despite all of this, we do have one thing to look forward to... the other tack.

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