March 20, 2019
What a day! Highs and lows, ups and downs, births and deaths. Ok
– the births didn’t actually happen today but it makes for a more dramatic
opening.
Let’s start with births. A couple of days ago, in what I’m guessing might be a
first for a Pacific crossing, we hatched twin Hatchimals!! Yes, apparently
these overpriced toys with minimal play value found their way on board. I’m
sure they were stowaways because what parent in her right mind would buy such a
thing? In any case, they emerged just in time to hatch. They are swaddled in
blankets and have found a nesting spot in our room on the desk I just cleared
of other unwanted items.
Deaths? Well, we discovered another flying fish and I found the head of a very
small crab on top of a toy box. So we’ll count those. But the real death was
that of our beloved rainbow spinnaker.
At approximately 8:45 this morning, she blew her head off (literally – the top
of a sail is called the head) and laid down peacefully in the water. I held her
for a moment while Joe loosed her earthly bonds and set her free to drift away
to wherever old spinnakers go.
While it was 8:45, it is 8:45 Galápagos time and we have now crossed enough
ocean that we should set our clocks back 3 hours. But, for various reasons
involving watch schedules (who takes the extra hour?), meals, radio nets, etc.,
we won’t change time until we reach the Marquesas. So, at 8:45, the sun was
just rising, making the death scene even more serene.
That all came to an abrupt halt when Joe went to put out the fishing line and
saw the body of our spinnaker still dragging about 20 feet behind the boat.
Sure enough, she had tangled a line in the propeller and was holding on.
So, a low moment became lower as we realized Joe had to go down (see how I’m
working in that intro sentence here) into the water to reach the line and
untangle it so we could use our engine when needed.
Of course he tried freeing it from above. John has been at the helm all this
time and Joe had been helping as the “rubber band” (see yesterday’s post) and I
woke up when I heard the commotion. Lucky Sunil slept through it after having
done the 2-4 am watch. So John shifted the engine back and forth between
forward and reverse, Joe climbed into the engine compartment and I pulled on
the line at various angles and then there was nothing else but to go in.
We dropped the mainsail to reduce speed and went head to wind and Joe tied a
couple of loops around himself, looking like a caricature of a mountain
climber, but in a swimsuit. He tied another rope onto the toe rail and then
hung there in the waves as I watched (and didn’t take photos except one) as he
bobbed up and down and looked like he was in agony, twisting and contorting to
reach the propeller with waves splashing over his head. I think this was all
for effect because all he said when he got out was, “If you wanted me to get
out, you should have put the swim ladder all the way down.” I thought I had
done well to lower it at all since I had anticipated that Joe would heel hook
the toe rail and haul himself up the side of the boat, just to prove he didn’t
need no stinking swim ladder.
Joe emerged unscathed and victorious and, once again, we watched the spinnaker
slip away into the sea, but without the handholding or poetic moment because we
had other things to do, like raise the main (it’s a BIG sail) and climb the
mast (Joe gets all the fun!) to take down the spinnaker’s head to keep as a
souvenir. Joe plans to wear it at Carnavale in Brazil next year. I think he
might be overdressed.
But wait, there’s more! We’ve covered births, deaths, lows, down, and up (the
mast) but not the high.
Cobin designed a PowerPoint version of Jeopardy (that boy is a keeper) so the
girls could test their knowledge at the end of our unit on animals. Cobin and I
wrote the questions and John and Sunil teamed up with the girls to study their
animal books to prepare. In the midst of a heated battle between Team Animal
(Tully and John) and Team Star (Marin and Sunil), John yelled, “Dolphins!” and
we all ran to the bow to see the largest pod of dolphins we have yet to see on
Charm.
With impressive animal knowledge coming from all, and a stunning example of the
beauty of the animal kingdom on display, we wrapped up the night. Team Star
took the win but we all recorded a high for the day.
Lighter winds and a change in sail plan means we won’t get to the Marquesas
until late tomorrow night. Hopefully we can enter at night – Nica has promised
to give us the scoop after they reach Hiva Oa around midday tomorrow.
By the way, for those wondering why we didn’t salvage the sail – it wasn’t for
lack of desire. Spinnakers cost thousands of dollars so people don’t toss them
into the sea. Picture a triangle attached at three points- one at the top of
the mast and the bottom two corners attached to lines that we control from the
cockpit. Now, slice the top off the triangle. Now this giant thing has fallen
into the water but is still attached to the boat at its bottom two corners. At
best, it is being dragged under us and is slowing us down. At worst, it is
tangling itself around things and/or pulling other things into the water that
its lines have ensnared. There is no possibility to pull it out – it is too
heavy and the boat is still moving forward, making it even more difficult than
impossible. The only option is to free it and hope it sinks and doesn’t cause
problems for other boats or sea creatures.