Paris after 2 months is intense, I was protected in Perpignan in Anne’s care, here the real decalage is violent, spaced out Pippo in the hysterical city, my unused legs hurt from walking, my head is filled with dust from the office and pollen from the trees... Finding my kids makes it worth it Luca is in and out once in a while, he is partying heavy after doing very well on his Bac exams, graduating, getting to a hot prepa and moving out into his own apt. i went to see his concert on Friday - sounded good, much more complex than before, but there weren’t enough people. Alix is more present, working for her oral exams on Monday and helping me sort out all my junk from the past in the new office. The new office is beautiful but a real mess, the same mess of rue des haudriettes at a grander scale - moving must have been epic. All in all, it is weird to be back, weird to be alone in this big apt, weird to be on solid ground, weird all this silence at home, weird all this aggressivity and noise in the street, weird...
Also strange to carry around inside oneself the reality of this long and intense adventure incomprehensible to most of those around you. Like a dream that comes to sound banal when externalized, this experience is like an insiders joke, rites of a secret society, the moments of love...
I can’t just continue these mails, this adventure has to have an end, a conclusion. Most sailing adventures end with a few chapters of conclusion: technical annexes with boat specifications, arguments about wind-vane design, lists of equipment, tricks of the trade for keeping eggs, routes, dos and don’ts… These are the pages I always seem to come back to. We are all organization nuts, the fear of forgetting the most important of items keeps us constantly in our lists, attentive to detail, checking and rechecking piles, labeling…, So here is a conclusion in the form of a list, because I’m sure there will be items to add in the days to come… and I don’t want to forget anything in this new adventure on dry land.
I had no memorable fundamental thoughts
I had a very clear cut goal, and that was about all I was capable of concentrating on.
I didn’t make or imagine any art - I even had a hard time justifying what I create.
I found the scenery incredibly diversified and captivating, but I had a difficult time finding the words to describe it.
I didn’t come up with any major changes in my life.
I did decide to spend more time making the people around me happier, though I doubt that I can do much to help.
I didn’t write the book about sailing I had wanted to.
I didn’t correct my spelling errors in my mails
I spent very little time in front of my laptop, the track pad didn’t always agree with my saltwater damp fingers
I didn’t desire any food we didn’t have other than ice cream once or twice.
We ate well but a lot less than normal.
We had a lot of food left over.
I never though I would ever eat corned beef, but in curry it is hidden.
Most of the cooking we ate was great, some was really bad.
I didn’t miss any places, or activities
I missed people, but not violently, I felt they were with me (the mails were a great help).
I remained very conscious of the effort others were making to permit me to do this trip.
I had a few moments of regret of not being with my loved ones in their times of difficulty.
I did not fear for my own life.
I often feared for the life of my crew
I didn’t desire any other boat
I didn’t get enough physical exercise of the aerobic kind.
I tried to do yoga but fell over, I had books of poses but not the patience to look figure them out.
I did some push ups and sit ups once in a while, but didn’t feel I needed to.
I got sun burned too often
I didn’t use most of my clothes, they were packed in plastic bags in a locker in Trinidad and opened in Perpignan.
I didn’t miss any garment.
I read about 20 pages of a novel in 2 months – when not sailing, navigating or fixing something, I slept.
I was happy to wash in salt water with a bit of fresh water rinse once a day.
I didn’t much worry about how I looked.
I didn’t lack for making love at all but I did think very often about Anne.
I figured out most of the equipment on Naomi, though I never got anything useful out of the SSB.
Many advised me to use a weather router, but I wanted to do it myself and did.
I did regret that the wind instruments on Naomi were not connectible to my laptop.
I would have liked her not to leak water and diesel into the bilge.
I would like to have had symmetric spinnaker, and a newer 135% genoa.
The asymmetric spinnaker is a super sail.
The standing rigging is great, the running rigging however old, did the job.
Having different colored halyards etc. would have been helpful for some of the crew to remember what was what.
I didn’t know anything about diesel engines before this trip, I still don’t know much but I was able to fix what went wrong without knowing how I did it.
I confirmed my interest in weather routing but found the Med too light winded for my taste and the grib files for the Med way off.
The AIS positioning system was a must but I had to learn to turn it off or restrict the range because avoiding collision became an obsession.
Having the Iridium phone and sending out, getting news back and knowing people were interested in our trip was a very important encouragement.
The 3 hour on 6 hours off watch system, with me on call all the time, seemed to work well off shore and in good weather.
In bad weather and near land falls I didn’t get much sleep because 4 hands were necessary for maneuvers, navigation and avoiding collision.
Sometimes, it was just too beautiful out on deck to go to sleep.
As in life, people tend to see sailing as either a work/rest dichotomy or as one integrated activity.
Some crew look do the least possible while on duty and little or nothing for the community when off, while others are enthusiastic at all times and see all activities on board as part of the process.
With normal cycles disrupted, crew tend to think they are tired all the time.
There is more to sailing than being on watch.
Cooking is a real problem, most people can’t cook very well. So if one wants to eat well either you have to have a cook or you have to screen crew for their cooking capacities and compatibilities.
Considering 4 guys together in a very little space in the middle of a very big ocean for 2 months - we all got along pretty well together. There was a job to do and we did it.
I kept the rhythm closer to racing than to cruising so there was a need to keep focused.
There were affinities between some crew and non between others, but this didn’t seem to matter much.
Even in the roughest moments when the engine broke in Trinidad, or in the rougher weather before Horta, or in the variable weather in the cargo lanes before Gibraltar I was certain I could count on them. The chaffing that did arise was about style, communication malfunction or just plain attitude difference. I got very little flack as captain, but it pasted over with out much to do.
All in all the crew was very dedicated to the trip and to our common objective.
There were no major accidents, one medium accident when I was hit by the mainsail sheet block, and almost no minor ones.
We all stayed healthy, washed often, ate well and slept enough (I didn’t get enough sleep during the Horta to Malaga leg).
This kind of life suits my body well. With some small changes in watch system and the competence of the crew I could have done an even longer trip.
If I were to redo it what would I do otherwise?
I would know more about diesel engines – celestial navigation was more romantic but much less useful.
I should have gone over each and every nut and bolt before leaving Trinidad.
I might not have stopped in Horta or Malaga - the stops were great but each time we lost wind.
Better tools would have been great.
I would install the wind/water electrical generator so we could use the instruments and the autopilot more freely and the engine less.
I would have had more easily prepared food, less cans of beer, corned beef and asparagus.
Now that I’m back, I wonder when I can leave again.
I feel that i am just now learning how to do sail long distances.
The maps are open on my bed, Esa, call me when your ready, xxxxx p
