First days at sea

We’re trying to settle into our routines at sea which are very different from life onboard in the marina. Life onboard is split into 3s. The 3 of us do rolling 3 hour watches, 3hrs on 6hrs off, this will continue until we reach our destination. Every 3rd day one of us is responsible for cooking and cleaning. This means preparing meals and cleaning our communal areas which is basically the cockpit, the galley and the head. It’s been my day today and everyone seems to be happy, well almost.

At 15:30 we celebrated our first 24hrs at sea with freshly brewed Swedish coffee (I brought some good coffee with me from home) and digestive biscuits. I landed in trouble with my crew-mates when I rationed the number of biscuits and had to promptly go down to the galley and bring up the whole packet.

I am happy to say that the sea sickness that I had calculated with has still to turn up, so far so good but I am not counting my chickens yet there could be rough seas ahead.

So what are my first thoughts or impressions now that we’ve started our sailing proper? The vastness of the ocean. The solitude of being on our own out here, today we have seen a total of 3 merchant vessels and 1 sailing yacht, all at distances of ## or more. The unfamiliarity of not being easily connectable and the strangeness of not just picking up the phone and making a call. Not since my army days back in the 80s have I been so cut off from the outside world from everyday contact with people who you love and care for. It’s one thing not keeping in touch its another thing all together not being able to do. Our dependency on Per-Erling when it comes to sailing. Luckily for us P-E is an experienced solo-sailor so he can manage the boat singlehanded. I am however confident that we will learn, P-E is a master sailor and a very patient teacher. Hopefully in a few days time we’ll be able to make some simple decisions without having to ask him everything.

A new day and what a start!
This morning just before 8 o’clock I was sitting alone on my watch when a group of dolphins came and joined me. Fantastic! They followed the boat for about five minutes. One was really curious and was right up at the propeller of our hydro generator and bumped his/her nose against it twisting and turning and the same time. The whole experience was a magical moment, almost spiritual.

Take care out there, we’re being careful out here.

Iain