Day 9 – 11 – Sunday 12 – Tuesday 13 January 2020

By Dominic Holling

The first 7 days of our trip went by incredibly fast and it did not seem like we had been sailing across the Atlantic for a week. Although it felt short, each day was very different and we were all adjusting to life on board. Now it seems that we have reached a different stage of the trip. Daily routines have started to kick in and we have all adjusted to our shifts. Sleeping has become the favourite pastime alongside having silly conversations. Matthew has taken a particular liking to this with his clever and very entertaining wit and being really relaxed has also taken to really good shut-eye which comes across as envious hibernation aboard the boat.

Space on the boat is very limited and taking long walks has become a distant memory. Even with this restricted space we have started our very own workout program. Led by the glorious muscles of Ewan and Matthew, our foredeck has been turned into our very own gym. You can always count on someone to be practicing the art of exercise in the mornings. It usually starts off with a little stretching yoga session by Ewan followed by other workouts. Doing push ups or sit ups on a boat is a whole new experience – while the boat goes up and down the waves create very interesting anti-gravity effects and then intense gravity splits, making the workouts all that much harder. Most of us have gotten stuck into books to occupy ourselves, but only the intellectuals such as Mika and Ewan have finished them cover-to-cover. Ewan also spends his time feeling like a very accomplished teacher, teaching Josh and myself maths and some other subjects. On that note, I would like to send a wish to all the poor children starting school on the 14th. We all wish you luck but find it hard to empathise with your school-starting dilemmas as we sail here across the Atlantic in a wide open ocean.

The most loved method of showering has been trailing behind the boat when our speed allows it. It’s quite a unique feeling and is probably one of the coolest showering methods I have tried.

One of the most hated chores on the boat is the cleaning of the heads (the toilet). When we realised that the sweet box was close to being depleted, it was decided that it was high time that we implemented a system to deal with the “gimbas” of the boat. So we have come up with a method of combining this problem with the problem of greedy people – basically all of us!

At lunch time we have a trial for the person accused of eating too much. If found guilty by the jury, they are sentenced to heads cleaning duty. Since I was found guilty of such a crime everyone had been very self concerned of their consumption, always asking the others multiple times before having seconds or having a snack. When Max was accused, Nick and Daniel successfully managed to negotiate a settlement agreement on his behalf.

Meals have been very good. Our fresh bread on the boat keeps improving every day as we learn new and improved methods. After having eaten our fresh tuna that we had caught for 4 days in a row at both supper and lunch we have finally finished our tuna stock.

Now everyone is enjoying the break form fish for a while before we re-cast our lines. But what’s the need for lines if the fish come to us? This has been the case over the past days as we have entered the seas of flying fish and some often come and land on the boat. As the days are getting hotter we have recently taken out our biminy shade cloth to have some shade in the cockpit. It also adds to a more home-like or caravan feel to the boat.

We have had some other major accomplishments in the past few days. Our sailing has been very good and the wind and swell has favoured us. With our constant sail changes and tactics, we have been able to achieve a regular 6-7 knots daily average. Earlier, our passage record got broken, when Josh was surfing down a big swell and got an amazing 13.1 knots. He was overly excited and was very proud with the amazing record. On day 9 we hit 1000 nautical miles! We are also building up with excitement as we approach the Greenwich Meridian.