COLD GROUND IS MY BED AND ROCK IS MY PILLOW - APRIL 21

Solis log:
33 02'43N 164 04'45E

There is a Bob Marley song with lyrics that go something like that. A bit blunt, but poetically paints a picture of a poor man in a shanty town. Let me make a crack at it Bob....I am a nail and the ocean is a hammer....no, a jack-hammer....lets all hum it together now....hmmm, well maybe I'm not a poet after all...

But I do think I have put a few things together. I love sailing. I have dreampt about sailing since I was a small child. But this last week...what was that? I really did begin to question myself. Is this really what I love? Maybe I have stumbled onto the realization that I "love" coastal and island sailing and maybe I'm not cut out to be an "ocean passage maker". Not because an inability to make the passage, but because it just plain sucked so bad. It just was not fun. The banging, the cracking, the hammering on the hull, the waves slamming over the side....Luke and I talked about the sound of breaking waves before they hit the boat. The kind of fear and anticipation of hearing it outside...tsuuu tsuu tsuu (thinking how terrible is this one going to be) and then the bang. You would be surprised, I was, that the sound of a wave hitting a boat is literally a absolute "bang" a "thud" as if someone has hit the boat with a huge sledge hammer. It was different than I expected...But now...let me explain "now" in the next paragraph...

Now it is different. And let me back up to some helpful hints and things I was told before I left Japan. Before we left, I was told by several Japanese who had sailing or deep ocean experience, that getting away from Japan would be the most difficult and challenging part of the trip. There is a book which in some ways seems to be the bible of sailing routes around the world written by Jimmy Cornell. It says that the wind can blow from any point on the compass. My Japanese friends and acquaintances with ocean experience also said that getting out of Japan would be the most challenging point. Apparently this year, because of El Nino, global warming or whatever, is causing low pressure systems to come through like rapid machine gun fire. The system that slammed us was 980mb and before that a system came through that dropped to 955mb. Because of this, we too experienced wind from about every point on the compass in just a short period of time. They said to get past 160 degrees longitude and you will be out of Typhoon alley...well, the last three days have been wonderful. The ocean totally mellowed out. We have lost most of the waves and everything has turned into very long cycle swells. The wind has been blowing perfectly steady from the south-east for 2+ days straight. Tonight is the most amazing thing. I went out on my regular night check before bed and noticed how incredible everything looked. As far as my eye could see was darkness on the horizon, but closer in the reflection of the ocean light. And my boat...oh my wonderful boat Solis. She is in perfect tune. My new best friend (Monitor wind vane) is steering Solis on a perfect course. Dad has FINALLY come out of his cave for the first time on the entire trip to hang out in the living room area, eat dinner, drink some tea, tell a few stories and have a few laughs. Although Dad is still getting sick in these incredibly flat conditions, tonight he was finally able to come out with us. Since we've hit these nice conditions, Luke has also been up and about and making an effort in the kitchen which is so appreciated by me. Before we left I had skillfully layed out "watch" rotation under normal conditions, storm conditions, etc. (watch is keeping a guy on deck to drive the boat, trim the sails, steer away from waves, watch for ships, etc), but that has been totally completely thrown out the window. Here is a challenge for all the single hand sailboat racers of the world, single hand the boat, do the navigation AND wash dishes make meals and take care of two sick people...but again, I'm so thankful that now that Luke is feeling better He is trying to make efforts in the culinary department. Dads daily schedule on the other hand consists of waking up at 4AM, reading or writing for an hour or so, then back to bed until about 9AM, he pokes his head out of the cabin and looks outside for about 5 minutes, then back to bed until dinner time. Has a little soup, then back to sleep until 4AM. Wow, that is a hell of a lot of sleeping for almost 10 days straight. So for me, this has finally been my chance to realize that yes, I do like this passage now. The first week literally seems like a dream to me now. I have a hard time remembering what was what, what was day or night, food or water, up or down. It has to be one of the most stamina challenging experiences of my life. But for the last 3 days, I have been sleeping and eating, resting. What a relief. Also for these three days it has been extremely dense fog. The interesting thing is that the wind is still blowing, but the fog is so dense. And the dolphins!
Wow, yesterday suddenly dolphins came from every direction to come and play. They were jumping and were so close to the boat you could literally reach out and almost touch them. They were gray with a white stomach. Just amazing and really brought light to our foggy ocean day.
Well things now are really nothing but good to report. Team moral is up, dad is not "better" but he is getting better. Luke is cranking out meals, the ocean is beautiful and winds are favorable. We're now cranking out close to 200 miles per day! (compared to our terrible record of last week where even had one day of minus miles).Thanks for all the support, we can surely feel it.