One thing that I have learned very well this last week is how many activities one can do in such a confined area. Our boat seems even smaller when contrasting it to the vast ocean around us. There also was a bit of inner panic today when we decided to calculate how many days it would take us to reach the Marquesas if we kept at the pace we are going right now. We are still going unbearably slow, and celebrate when we make it past 1.5 knots. According to our calculations, it would take us 467 days if we kept at this pace the whole time… We are just hoping that the weather forecast is being honest with us when it says that the wind should pick up in a couple days.
The activities we came up with have gotten more and more creative with each day aboard “Far & Away”. Today alone, our family was playing the guitar, playing the ukulele, reading, Me teaching Orin, Eli and Teyauna how to make friendship bracelets, making pizza, baking cookies, writing, playing mind games, P90X workouts, napping in the sun, cracking corny jokes, having funny, nonsensical conversations, playing music and dancing to it, doing laundry, chasing each other around the boat and a family movie night watching the Life of Pi… In case we get into the situation of being stranded on a boat with a Tiger…
Dad even had us try every little thing possible to make our boat go faster. Taking the jib in and out, from one side to the other, moving the mainsail in each direction and even taking the mainsail down and putting it back up later… I think all the sail-work was more out of Dad’s boredom than the actual need for adjusting the sails. The best part was when we went from 1 knot to 1.2 knots after taking ALL the sails down. Meaning that the current is probably pushing us more than the wind is at this rate. But despite the slow going, we are making the best of it anyways and have been eating very well! You’d be surprised with the gourmet meals one can create when you have a LOT of time on your hands! And thanks to the two youngest (Teyauna and Zakary) and a bit of help from their parents, we all have clean laundry hanging out to dry.
8:20 pm PDT, Lat: 20° 32.426′ N, Long: 120° 21.630′ W, Course 201° T, Cloud Cover: 30%, Barometer: 1010 hPa, Temp: 20°C
I LOVE hearing about your adventure!! Keep it up
if there is wind predicted ahead of your course it may be practical to run one engine at 1000 rpm to motor fuel efficiently towards wind.. It sure takes a lot of admirable patients to wait for it though.
Might be good to explain the derivation of the term “the doldrums”, now that you’re near them. The wind will pick up, but the kids should learn that soon enough.
I don’t think you should run the engine- I really think you should just wait. Imagine how much of a better story you would have to tell if you took 457 days to get to Nuka Hiva instead of 30 😉
Sail on! That was very brave of you guys to watch life of pi- I was terrified when I watched it and wasn’t on the sea- I guess maybe you should watch Moby Dick too!
Four hundred and sixty-seven days … how many more than thirty is that!
Just noticing how similar Normand looks to Anthony Hopkins (Lieutenant William Bligh) in “The Bounty”.
I would get the fishing gear out; you can salt and dry the fish on the deck (it will keep for months this way, perhaps even 467 days). And if you fish deep you might be able to snag some seaweed (which contains vitamin C). And Norm I suggest you start sleeping with one eye open.
Hmm, in this fascinating saga I hear echoes of a book I once read (or once lived). These times you spend together will help make all of you the people you will become. Patience, ingenuity, caring for others, filling your minds with good thoughts, wearing clean clothes, developing your music abilities, exercising, learning through doing seemingly pointless tasks, all add to your knowledge base and your characters. We love hearing about these adventures.
Thanks so much for the vicarious cruise! Not many people get a day by day diary of life on board. Much better than a message in a bottle. This may be like one big long Family Home Evening? I began wondering where you were on the big ocean and in the next few days so grateful you posted a map. I pray you will keep safe. I also wondered If you do catch fish like Derek suggested, how will you know which ones are edible? Are you taking advantage of the clear cloudless nights to learn any celestial navigation skills? Again thanks, this is such a unique opportunity for us here on terra firma.