Today it has been 2 days without wind.
What really gets to you is the rocking, bobbing, motion. You can not escape it and you even feel dizzy in your dreams. While the boat is moving the wind holds the boat heeled over and, though the boat rocks, it is a pleasant feeling of forward progression.
However when the boat is still, the waves take control and you are captured in the rhythmic meter of the ocean swell. You are not quite seasick, but you are not feeling very well. As if your stomach is gently reminding you that it has gone over. Also, your mind has packed it's bags and your mental capacity is quite limited, as most of your brain is desperately begging your stomach to stop feeling queasy.
I tried to escape the rocking by going for a swim. In the south Atlantic the water is very warm and made of only the bluest water. We were a hundred miles from any coast and I dove in with the swanlike grace better known as a bellyflop.
It is a strange feeling swimming in that much water, you can't help feeling slightly stupid exiting the only floating object in sight. As you dive down you see the best looking blue as the sun reflects off the top of the water, a gorgeous pale blue. And as you look down the sun streaked gradient of water turns to the deepest, creepiest dark blue available. It is like noticing the color blue for the first time.
I dove as deep as I could before my ears hurt, getting further from the boat but not closer to anything else.
To get a fishes perspective, of course.
2 comments:
Hi Topher (& Alex),
I hope that you have some of the sea sickness meds that I mentioned before you started sailing. My mom said that she has alot of empathy for you out sailing across the Atlantic! She has a few stories of her own! Just remember that fish get hungry early in the morning & after 4 pm for dinner. I have seen sharks eat people alive at those times of day in more than one ocean. Just think, do not splash during those times of day because they like the breakfast & dinner times, also. You are lucky to see the blues out there because they have disappeared in some parts of the ocean. Take care.
We had the medication on board but I never took any of it. Some sailors I asked said it really just makes you feel better temporarily, and, it is better to just throw up and get it over with. Then you will get used to the boat and not be sick. It never came to that for me, but Dimitri was sick during the storms.
There aren't really the types of sharks that eat people where we are currently sailing, but we've been careful not to wear anything shiny lest we get attacked by a barracuda. :)
Toph
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