The Wrong Side of the Bed
Day 14 : Ascension Island to Azores
Thursday, March 31st 2022
Author: Jen
I sleep on the left side of the bed, but gravity wins and I am wedged on the right-side between tangled sheets and lee cloth.
Upwind sailing can be fun, but not today. Its our 5th day on the lean. I could handle the lean. It’s the unpredictable waves that makes me want to pull the covers over my head.
Steely lurches, bounces, jumps, rocks. The waves hit our side, our bow, they crash and roll, they refuse to part, they run rivers down the side deck, they try to get inside.
We knew this was going to be hard. We had carefully managed our expectations to prepare ourselves. But a voice inside me had said, “It won’t be that bad".
It was wrong.
We sound like salty sailors. Expletives and curses can be heard as we move around the boat. Bruises appear as badges of past misteps from when Steely lurches and we mistimed our footing.
But when on watch, tucked cosily in to the corner seat looking out to sea, you can forgive the bruises and the hardships, and instead be overwhelmed with the majestic forces of the ocean.
I watch the waves peak and fall, the swell draw up and lumber by, Steely’s wake swallowed and our trail disappear. We are tiny, the ocean is huge. Today we are about halfway. It’s not fun but it will remain long in my memory as a challenge we faced together.
Day 14 Statistics:
Time on passage so far: 13 days, 21 hours
Distance covered in last 24 hours: 118 nm
Average Speed in last 24 hours: 4.9 knots
Official Length of intended Route when we set out: 3,480 nm
Current Projected Distance to Go according to chart plotter: 1,741 nm
Distance Sailed so Far: 1,658 nm
Total Projected Distance of Route: (1,741 + 1,658) 3,399 nm
Change in total projected distance in last 24 hours: +2 miles.
Estimated number of waves that have struck Steely’s bow on this passage so far (each and every one causing the bow to rise up, then fall back to the ocean with a “whumf" and a lurch: 133,200
(workings: 13 days, 21 hours = 1,198,800 seconds. Waves have had an average period of 9 seconds. 1,1980,800/9 = 133,200)
