Conditions, Superstitions, and a Rant

Monday, July 29

It’s 0600 on the beginning of our 4^th day at sea on our passage from Bora Bora to Suwarrow.  I’ve just come back on watch and John has laid down to rest.  The conditions are remarkably similar to what they were when I went off watch at 0200.  In fact, they are remarkably similar to what they have been the entire passage thus far, which is to say what they were when we set out on Friday.

Maybe that’s it….We broke rule #12 on the Seafarers’ List of Rules….Never start a passage on a Friday.  It is considered very bad luck!  But then, knowing that if we didn’t take this questionable window, we’d be stuck in Bora for yet another week at least, it seemed like the thing to do at the time.  Superstitions….Oh my….This is a bit embarrassing, but I have to admit that I’ve always been a little bit superstitious.  Okay…Maybe a lot.  Spill salt?  Immediately toss some over the left shoulder.  Ladder in my path?   You must be joking!  Walk around that puppy!  Upon being asked if all is well and replying that it is so, knocking wood with all my heart!  One would think that by the time one is my age, one would have outgrown this silliness.  Not so.  In fact, since we’ve linked our destiny to Mother Ocean’s, it’s worse than ever…

Leaving port on a Friday?  Risky, indeed!

So, I asked our cruising buddies if they knew of any remedial steps we could take to counteract this very blatant rule-breaking, bad-luck-inducing act we were about to undertake.  Oh yes, Aaron on Bella Star assured me….Simply save some coins from the currency of the country you are leaving, and as you leave the harbor, toss them into the sea in the direction of your destination, thus paying homage to Neptune and assuring your safe passage.  So that’s how I found myself standing on Mystic’s bow at dawn on Friday morning, chucking French Polynesian coins into the deep blue waters of Bora Bora’s lagoon, chanting to myself.  Does it matter how much you chuck, I wondered?  Should I take some bills, fold them into little paper airplanes and fly them into the deep, too?  Aaron had said “remember, you get what you pay for”, but somehow I just couldn’t envision the bills sinking properly, and the visual of planes sinking didn’t seem so appropriate anyway, so I stuck to the coins…. Lots of them….

And here we are….Monday morning….With the same conditions we started out in….Seas, 3-4 meters, with the occasional 5 meter mountain raising its white-tipped head; winds 20-30kts consistently, gusting 35kts.  The occasional squall rolls through, but thus far we’ve had very little rain, just a bit higher winds in the squalls. Here’s a nautical term for you….YUK!!  We knew we would have this in the beginning of the passage, but the forecast was for improving seas and lessening winds.  Alas…  I have to confess, I’m feeling a bit resentful here.  This is what I paid for?  This is why I made a doof of myself leaving Bora Bora?   Guess I should have flown those colorful CFP airplanes into the deep afterall!  Ha!

But, to coin a phrase :), it is what it is, so we roll along making 7kts in our little white ship.  Fortunately, all the weather and seas are behind us, and Mystic does pretty well in these conditions, so it’s not horrible….It’s just a little disconcerting to stand in the galley preparing a meal, and look out the cockpit door and see only rushing water and no sky behind us!  But, being the fine lady she is, Mystic politely lifts her skirt and allows the waves to pick up her stern and move up under her belly and bow.  Then John, in the pilothouse standing watch, gets to see the sky disappear and reappear as the wave rushes off.  Fun, eh??

But, we’re doing all right.   And, needless to say, after the first day of getting our sea legs back, we’ve had lots of time to sit around and read.   (And now here’s a sidebar for you:  I completely understand why those early seafarers were depicted with the proverbial bowed-legs, scurvy notwithstanding.  It was the only way to walk around on a rolling ship and keep your balance!  Thank goodness for all the strategically placed handholds we have on Mystic Moon, but still we find ourselves duck-walking, handhold to handhold!  On the plus side, I’m told that all this duck-walking burns extra calories…Now that, I’m all for! 🙂 ) Anyway, I had loaded Denis Umstot’s (Robert Beebe’s) Voyaging Under Power, 4th Edition onto my Kindle some time ago and finally got around to pulling it out and reading it yesterday. (See?  Lots of time to read…).  It is definitely a big improvement over the 3rd Edition, but really, I must say, I’m terribly disappointed with the scant mention of Selenes by Umstot.  Perhaps he lacked sufficient boat data from Howard (the builder) or input from owners??  But, sheesh already!  There’s a very brief mention with some quoting of Furthur’s blog and a couple of pictures, but that’s it. (Regarding the pictures…hmmm…Handholds in the master cabin “to make sure you stay in bed”?  Ree-ally, Denis???  In the 28,000nm we’ve traveled, in all kinds of weather, not once have John or I come even close to rolling out of our bed!  Perhaps it is because the bunk is properly placed for an ocean-going vessel, i.e. amid-ships, fore and aft, and not athwart ships as some others are wont to do!   Grrrrr!!)  Totally short shrift!  Oh, don’t even get me started!  Ahem….

Okay…..well, let’s save that blog for a day when I’m cranky….

Anyway, it did get me to thinking about how much I still love cruising aboard Mystic Moon, even after all these miles (we turned over that 28,000nm figure just a day or two ago), or maybe even because of it.  I love the fact that I’m snug and dry here in the pilothouse, in spite of the weather.  I love that we can choose our speed and direction regardless of the wind.  And, I love that I’m sitting here on watch in my jammies and not in foulies!

There are perhaps 10 or 11 boats spread out over this 700nm stretch between Bora Bora and Suwarrow, and I mean spread out.  None of us are within VHF range of each other, but we’re meeting on an SSB net every morning, and some of us in the late afternoon as well.  It’s a mix of boats:  We’re the only trawler, but of the rest, it’s about an even mix of monohulls and catamarans.  Sizes vary greatly amongst all of the styles of boats.  In any event, of the boats that left on this weather window, one monohull had to divert to Rarotonga because they just couldn’t make decent headway with the wind and seas dead on their stern.  Another monohull is running wing-on-wing, living with the roll (as we are), while yet another has chosen to tack in these conditions.  Most of the catamarans have reported good speeds, but with rough and noisy conditions, and a smaller cat in the group reported considering putting out a drogue last night, as they were surfing at alarming rates down the fronts of the waves.  (They ended up not putting one out, and are doing better this morning).  Anyway, my point is, all the boats have their strong points and short-comings, including ours, but we’re all out here doing it, having made our choices to the best of our strong points and short-comings as well.  And I know each and every one of us out here loves our own boat for her ability to have gotten us this far and her ability to take us further yet.  Sometimes I think the focus on this type of cruising is mistakenly put on the ‘how to’ rather than the ‘why to’.  Or worse, the ‘perfect boat’ that is required…..

Because, when we all arrive at this very special destination that can only be gotten to by private yacht or annual expedition ship, we will all enjoy the opportunities there and have the exact same views from our cockpits.  And, we will all carry a deep respect for each other for being out here….doing it….and continuing to carry on in our individual journeys, regardless of our choice of vessel.  John and I feel so blessed to be a part of this incredible community and to have gotten to know these amazing adventurers!

Interestingly, in just the space of the writing of this blog, it happens that the clouds have parted and the sun has come out (for now).  The seas, while still impressively large, are no longer (completely) filling our views from astern and forward. And while we are still rocking and rolling along, the winds are trying to stay in the less than 25kt range, and we have less than 24 hours until arrival at Suwarrow.  While the salon still looks like a cyclone blew through, what with the chairs askew and pillows all over the floor (they just kept skidding off the settee, no kidding!), the galley is orderly with all the lockers quietly and still safely holding their contents. We did have one blogus/nappus interupptus when YB’s fishing reel screeched, but even then he managed to reel in a 50” wahoo, in spite of the rolling and my refusal to slow down to less than 1000 rpm. (Come on…with these following seas it was like we were stopped! 🙂 )

So maybe it did work….Maybe the coins were good enough.   Of course, we’re not there yet, and there’re still enough hours for the conditions to go back to whacko or any of us to come to grief, so I’m knocking wood, too!  And by tonight’s net, three boats should have arrived at Suwarrow, and by tomorrow night’s net, two or perhaps three more, including us. The rest should straggle in in the next few days after that…..

So yes….I’m going to say it….I’m going to throw caution to the wind and tempt fate….Aaacckkk!!….I just can’t help myself!  Because in spite of everything, the rewards of why we do this exponentially outweigh the discomforts we suffer in the how we do this…..So, it’s just got to pop out of my lips…..

LIVVG!!

(Aaannd……….Furiously knocking wood!!!!!)