I'm not going to sugarcoat it, conditions are pretty miserable these days.
Everyone is cold, wet, and tired, and tempers are fraying a bit. Sean drops
the keyboard and rants at no one in particular that the ziploc bag we store
it in should have been zipped, as should all ziplocs. Neil complains that
he's gettig shouted at in stereo, Kat bizarrely thinks she's been called a
stereo, gets really offended, and calls him a pig. Since my snap over food
a week ago, I've saved my outbursts for inanimate objects. I have trouble
getting my life jacket on or my dry suit off, they get sworn at. Or every
time I get dripped on by this goddamn boat.... Some people are more stoic.
Doug is really good, but even he lost his patience a bit with the oven when
it wouldn't stay on.
I remember saying back in the heat of the Solomon Sea that the cold leg
would be better, because you could always put more clothes on. I didn't
think that I just might not have them. We might have to go to shorter
rotations on deck, but it's tough with the numbers we have. This is
just another challenge of having the smallest crew in the fleet, and one I
hadn't really anticipated.
There's some fairly big weather coming, talk of 50 knots sustained with
gusts of 70-80. This is a lot, but it should be from a favorable direction
and fully manageable with conservative sails. What really concerns me is
that it's a cold front and the thought that things will get colder.
At least we're making good time. We've crossed the International Date Line.
Opportunity there for a lot of obvious jokes about time travel, but I'm
going to pass. All that really matter is what gets us to Seattle.
It is nice to finally be starting that longitude with a W though.
2316 nm to go.
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